If the season were a few months older, and if Arsenal didn’t have a decade and a half of under-performance to trouble them, this could be called the stuff of champions. Make no mistake, the league leaders spoiled Aston Villa here – it was barely a contest for most of the night, but an upset was never ruled out as they led by just one goal.
When Douglas Luiz duly placed one of his corner match pieces moments after being substituted, 58,000 pairs of eyes might have rolled; they’ve seen it all before in a venue that knows few false dawns.
This time, however, they opened with a surprise as Gabriel Martinelli responded almost instantly and gave Mikel Arteta’s side exactly what they deserved.
With the caveat that Arsenal will ultimately be judged on how they handle these setbacks against better opponents than a woeful Villa, there is a growing sense that this team possess the courage that many of their predecessors have lacked. They bounced back from an equally poor concession to beat Fulham on Saturday; repeating the trick was on one level a reminder that they have rickets, but on another, proof that they’ve learned to clear their heads.
“That’s the mentality we want to show as a team and the character we want to show, to react immediately,” Arteta said of the winner, which came three minutes after Luiz had hooked Arsenal and confirmed his best start since 2004. “Conceding. goals are part of the game; it’s about the next action”.
Martinelli took his goal superbly, controlling a half-volley at the far post after Bukayo Saka had clipped a teasing cross into his path. The whole sequence spoke of the difference between these sides – the play had started when Martinelli made ground before finding Takehiro Tomiyasu, who then passed to Saka – but Villa’s defense seemed to think their work was done once the Brazilian was out of possession. He was unmarked on goal seconds later and Steven Gerrard was left to rue the waste of a lifeline.
“We have the game [to] exactly where we want it and then we’re going to shoot ourselves in the foot,” he said. “We have ourselves to blame for giving in so quickly. We talk about this most days and it’s really frustrating that the messages don’t seem to get through.”
Gabriel Jesus gives Arsenal the lead in the first half at the Emirates Stadium. Photo: Tolga Akmen/EPA
Even if they do between now and Saturday, it would take a brave viewer to imagine Villa picking up a result against a rampant Manchester City. Three points from five games is a bad start and it’s likely to get worse; his performances offer no relief and Gerrard admitted the pressure on his job is already mounting. “If I stayed here and said I didn’t care, you’d look at me like I was from a different planet.”
In the first half, Arsenal hammered their team with otherworldly football, aided by Villa offering nothing beyond late challenges and erratic free-kicks. If they had set themselves up for a point, the number of times Arsenal exposed them made a mockery of it; if Gerrard wanted them to attack, a complete lack of cohesion meant they didn’t show it.
Gabriel Jesús forced the wobbly Emiliano Martínez into two saves with angled efforts and Gabriel Magalhães twice went close. Saka missed a sit at the far post and, before the break, Martinelli made a save from the Villa goalkeeper. On the half hour, Jesus sent the ball loose after Martinez had reacted haphazardly to Granit Xhaka’s deflected cross, but Arsenal should have been out of sight.
It meant Douglas Luiz’s equaliser, beating an inswinger Aaron Ramsdale for his second such goal of the season, felt perversely inevitable as a tighter second period wore on. Ramsdale had just been tested for the first time by Leon Bailey and, despite being passengers, Villa were put in a position of relative strength.
Arsenal quickly pulled them back and Arteta will be hoping to keep his side’s momentum going. Albert Sambi Lokonga did well in his first start since April, but they are light in midfield, with Mohamed Elneny ruled out for a while and Thomas Partey also dropped.
“If the right player is available and we can do it, we will try,” Arteta said of any deadline day additions.
In the heat of the moment, however, he was able to savor the prospects offered by Martinelli’s decision. “When you start having that belief and creating those moments, not only do we believe, but the crowd believes,” he said. “When that connection happens, anything is possible.”