Three positives and two negatives from Arsenal's 1-0 win against Aston Villa

Aston Villa is a tough place to go, regardless of the great change that has swept through the club this summer.

They arrived as the much-fancied champions yet seemed to toil under the Villa Park lights and failed to test Zion Suzuki in goal. All the signs were there of Mikel Arteta, once again, coming unstuck when faced with an Unai Emery midblock.

Three positives and two negatives as Arsenal make it two wins from two in the Premier League

But title holders often find a way and the Gunners did exactly that, a fluid venture down the left flank leading to a square ball which Bukayo Saka tapped home. 1-0 to the Arsenal after an hour and that is how it would stay.

Here are three positives and two negatives from a hard-fought Gunners win.   

An unchanged team meant Ben White, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka would remain as the right-side choice at Villa.

That trio often looks the part and it represented the most likely route to goal here, with Arsenal using their combined magic to try pick the Villa lock. Rotations, probing balls and the odd decoy run almost carved them open.

Indeed, a few of those ‘runs’ even outfoxed Odegaard who, frustratingly, would misplace some of his passes.  

But it is clear they share a good understanding and are a joy to watch when it works. Injuries to each have robbed fans of more chances to see them together; perhaps better medical luck will fall in their favour this term.    

Make the most of that RHS combo because there was not much sign of their fluidity among the rest of the group.

Old habits were on show from Arsenal: taking two or three touches between every pass, moving the ball at a slow pace and almost instinctively going back to David Raya whenever Aston Villa applied a bit of pressure.

There is nothing inherently bad about ‘control’ over ‘basketball matches’ and it has obviously served the Gunners well over the years. Furthermore, one hardly expects a visiting side to steamroll Emery’s team at home.

But you get the sense that Arsenal allow teams to gain a stronger foothold in a match than necessary by not forcing the issue more. It reduces the game to tight margins which can so easily swing against you.  

Thankfully, the margins went their way here.

After a brilliant debut last week, Christos Tzolis was brought back down to earth with a bang at Villa Park.

He saw much less of the ball than in game-week one as Arsenal preferred to target the RHS in attack. Yet, whenever the team did find him, he struggled to make anything happen and got hooked during the half-time break.

Some context is needed: a lack of service obviously lessened his impact, while the early substitution was because of the yellow card tightrope he was walking – a very, very harsh booking too from a ref (Jarred Gillett) who otherwise let a lot go.

But it was still disappointing to see such minimal impact after the hype of recent weeks. Hopefully he can bounce back fast.  

Positive #2: Riccardo Calafiori at it again

Be rest assured that the collective toils from Arsenal were not from the want of effort from Riccardo Calafiori.

As ever, the Italian drifted into pockets all over the pitch and caused Villa nightmares in the inverted role. His darting runs left Matty Cash in a muddle about whether to stay or go and one such run led to his assist for the Saka goal, his third goal contribution in three games after the Community Shield and the first league match versus Coventry City.

Amidst a hard-to-watch performance, Calafiori is always a pleasure and he is the biggest reason why Arsenal managed to come away from this match – a ground at which they lost last year – with their 100% record still intact.

Arsenal will not win any beauty contests by playing this brand of football, but it is all about winning by whatever means.

And, to their credit, they did see out the game in expert fashion, with Villa failing to register a single shot on target all night. The introductions of Mikel Merino and Bruno Guimaraes proved effective in that sense.

Arteta himself spoke post-match of how difficult it is to win here, and the “squad victory” that he praised is a testament to the star quality he can bring off the bench. Arguably, no other Premier League team can match it.

Even if it was a slog, maximum points on the board is as much as anyone could ask for and spectators can always enjoy avenging the 2025/26 loss.

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