Three winners and three losers as Arsenal beat Aston Villa 1-0

Arsenal have just beaten Aston Villa 1-0 in the Premier League.

Unai Emery’s side made things tough for the Premier League champions, who were nowhere near their usual level, especially in the first half

Things improved slightly after the break, and Bukayo Saka put the Gunners ahead following some brilliant work from Riccardo Calafiori.

Here are our winners and losers from the game…

Three winners from Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Aston Villa

Bukayo Saka

Saka had a really difficult 2025/26 season because of injuries. Even though he only missed seven league games, it was clear that he was playing through pain in the final months of the season.

The Arsenal number seven would’ve wanted to prove a point this season, and he has done just that so far.

After scoring on the opening day against Coventry, Saka found the net against Villa. That should give him all the confidence he needs to get back to his best.

Ezri Konsa

Cristhian Mosquera started at the back again for Arsenal, and he was excellent next to Gabriel Magalhaes.

The Spain international had definitely done enough to keep his place in the side, but sadly, he suffered what appeared to be a hamstring injury in the second half.

Ezri Konsa replaced him and did what he had to do. We expect him to start there going forward following Mosquera’s injury.

Eberechi Eze

Eberechi Eze was withdrawn at half-time against Aston Villa at Villa Park last season after failing to fulfil his defensive responsibilities.

It was a difficult moment for the Englishman at the time, but he had his full-circle moment tonight.

Mikel Arteta turned to Eze at half-time and brought him on as a left winger. He was excellent.

Eze was great on the ball, made some good runs, combined well with Calafiori and was even involved in the build-up to Saka’s goal. Great performance!

Three losers from Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Aston Villa

Christos Tzolis

Christos Tzolis was the talk of the town after his performances against Manchester City and Coventry in the first two games of the season.

At Villa Park tonight, the Greece international was really poor from the first moment of the game. He was so bad that Arteta took him off at half-time.

This should be a big reality check for Tzolis, especially with Eze playing so well after coming on and Arsenal potentially signing a new winger on deadline day.

Myles Lewis-Skelly

Myles Lewis-Skelly didn’t really do anything wrong against Aston Villa, but he could still end up being the big loser.

In the first-half, the Gunners struggled to create anything from central midfield, and that made it very hard for the forwards. Martin Odegaard had to drop deep several times.

However, after Bruno Guimaraes came on, the attackers started having much more joy thanks to his line-breaking passes.

That could be the reason why Arteta starts the Brazilian in the next game, at the unfortunate expense of young Lewis-Skelly.

Viktor Gyokeres

Viktor Gyokeres would’ve hoped to have a better season after scoring 21 goals last term. But he hasn’t even been given a chance.

The Swede has been left on the bench as an unused substitute in each of the first two Premier League games, which is not a great look.

Kai Havertz was not at his best against Villa tonight, but Arteta still chose to keep Gyokeres on the bench.

Does that indicate a shock transfer on deadline day, potentially in a swap deal for Julian Alvarez? Time will tell.