Arsenal bounced back from defeat against Manchester City with a hard fought victory over Aston Villa last night. Arsene Wenger made two changes to the team defeated at the Etihad Stadium, with Emmanuel Frimpong replacing the suspended Song and Francis Coquelin deployed at right-back in place of the injured Djourou.
Villa had the better of the early exchanges and Szczesny had to produce a fine reflex save to deny Gabby Agbonlahor from giving the hosts the lead with a free header, while Coquelin was struggling to contain the trickery of Charles N’Zogbia and received an early yellow card for his troubles. The game changed in the 17th minute however as Theo Walcott’s skilful turn on the edge of the box caused Ciaran Clark to panic and pull back the Arsenal forward inside the penalty area, giving the referee no option but to award a penalty. Robin Van Persie powerfully drilled his penalty past Guzan to give Arsenal the lead and equal Thierry Henry’s record of scoring 34 league goals in a calendar year. Although Villa continued to look dangerous on the attack, the Gunners now had a foothold in the game and could have further increased their lead as Walcott was sent clear through on goal only to see his attempt to chip the onrushing Guzan blocked by the American goalkeeper. Van Persie then played the ball through to Aaron Ramsey whose shot sailed harmlessly over the bar.
Alex Mcleish’s half time team talk certainly roused the home side in the second half, as they persistently pressed Arsenal high up the pitch and battled energetically in midfield, forcing the Gunners to relinquish possession with ease. Villa’s equaliser arrived as a result of their high pressing game. A long clearance by Guzan was flicked on by Agbonlahor into the path of Vermaelen, who headed the ball towards Mertesacker. However the Belgian, who did not have his best game in an Arsenal shirt, sold his German team mate short, allowing Albrighton to steal the ball and calmly steer his shot past Szczesny for the 20,000th Premier League goal. Villa were now in the ascendancy and Arsenal were barely holding on, reflected in the possession statistic, which at one point showed Villa as having 69% possession. Wenger reacted by replacing the strength of Frimpong with the mercurial Rosicky. The change had an immediate impact as the Gunners were able to retain possession and build attacks, which more often than not were repelled by the immense Richard Dunne. In the 80th minute Arshavin and Benayoun were introduced as Arsenal went in search of the winner. Needless to say the Russian had little impact on the match, but Benayoun’s close control and incisiveness added further impetus to the Gunners attack. In the 87th minute the Arsenal pressure finally told as Benayoun nodded in Van Persie’s corner to take all three points back to the Emirates.
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Benayoun celebrates Arsenal's winner |
The Gunners just had to see out the final few minutes of the match and were assisted by Alan Hutton’s stupidity. The Tottenham reject first lost his temper and picked up a yellow card following a clear foul on Van Persie (who had earlier inexplicably received a yellow card himself for simulation, after being brought down in the penalty area, which should have led to the award of a second penalty for Arsenal). Barely two minutes later, Hutton’s ridiculous lunge at Vermaelen led to his second yellow card, allowing the Gunners to maintain possession until the referee blew the final whistle.
Although Arsenal's performance was far from their best, the fact they still managed to win the game, following Sunday’s disappointing result, was highly impressive. After a shaky start Coquelin grew into the game and may just be the solution to the right-back problem, while Benayoun surely deserves more playing time after an impressive cameo appearance. Hopefully we can build on this result in the next two home games against Wolves and QPR.
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