lost out against Aston Villa.
Ollie Watkins’ second minute strike sealed all three points for Dean Smith’s men at Villa Park as Arsenal failed to break down a stubborn Villa side.
It was a result that left Arsenal in tenth place in the table and nine points behind Liverpool in fourth, having played one game more than the Reds.
As a result, Arsenal are facing a battle to try and qualify for European football via the Premier League this season, with Arteta’s Gunners losing ten of their 23 league games so far this season.
![[FILE] Liverpool’s Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Salah (L) runs with the ball as Arsenal’s Brazilian defender Gabriel closes in during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium in London. (Photo by Catherine Ivill / POOL / AFP)](https://www.afriupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/000_97B779-scaled-e1703231851386-120x86.jpg "Liverpool host Arsenal in battle for Premier League Christmas No. 1 5")
![[FILES] Arsenal’s Spanish manager Mikel Arteta gestures on the touchline during the English League Cup semi-final first leg football match between Liverpool and Arsenal at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on January 13, 2022. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)](https://www.afriupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/000_9W63G7-897x598-1-120x86.jpg "Pochettino advised me not to go into coaching, says Arteta 7")
Below, we look at the talking points from the game.
New signings impress for Arsenal
There weren’t many for Arsenal on Saturday lunchtime so it makes sense to start with the positives.
The Gunners were relatively active in the transfer window, shipping several players out but also bringing a couple in.
The first of them was Mat Ryan on loan from Brighton who made his debut for the club he supported as a boy in the absence of the suspended Bernd Leno.
Things didn’t exactly start off to plan for the Australian who conceded before even getting a touch on the ball as Cedric’s weak pass and Rob Holding’s slack marking allowed Ollie Watkins to give Aston Villa an early lead.
From that point on though Ryan was faultless.
The 28-year-old pulled off splendid stops from Watkins, Jack Grealish and Bertrand Traore to bail out the Gunners defenders in front of him on several occasions.
His form, especially when compared to the shaky displays of Runar Alex Runarsson between the sticks this season, was another example of how important it is to have a top quality back up goalkeeper for a team at Arsenal’s level.
This may well be his only chance in a Gunners shirt with Leno set to return next week, but if that is the case he’s done plenty to suggest a permanent move come the summer might not be the worst piece of business.
Further upfield it was a second appearance from fellow loanee Martin Odegaard that also really caught the eye.
The Norwegian drifted all over the pitch looking to play balls forward and penetrate the Villa defence through the middle in a way that Arsenal had struggled to do a bit before his introduction.
Odegaard also showed off his ability to dovetail with Emile Smith Rowe as the two combined well to create some decent chances.
The only downer on his cameo was that he missed arguably the Gunners’ best chance of the match, blazing over the top from just inside the box after a Bukayo Saka pull back.
Despite the result the performances of both indicated that strength in depth is no longer an issue for Arsenal in the goalkeeping and attacking midfield positions.
Full backs react
It was a day to forget for both of Arsenal’s full backs.
Cedric was at fault for the first goal as a weak pass to Gabriel was seized upon by allowing Villa to take the lead.
The 29-year-old was visibly angry after the error and was captured on camera gesticulating angrily and lambasting himself for ultimately proved to be a game-deciding error.
It did not get much better for the Portuguese defender after that, as he was careless in possession and given the run around by a winger named Traore for the second time in as many matches.
Cedric is playing out of position in all fairness to him, but it was no surprise to see him hooked at half time.
Having just praised Arsenal’s business in January it is worth just tempering that by asking what might have been if they had been able to bring in a left back.
Retrospectively Junior Firpo of Barcelona has been linked and it’s safe to say the Spaniard would have been a better signing than Patrick van Aanholt or Ryan Bertrand.
But with Kieran Tierney still out the Gunners will have to soldier on without a specialist in the position. Mikel Arteta said himself that the club “could not do everything” in the transfer window, but it’s looking like they may have missed a trick here.
Over on the other side Hector Bellerin, who once again skippered the side in the starting absence of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, was not much better.
The Spaniard has actually been much improved this season and has faced some harsh stick as the team around him has failed to pick up points.
But on Saturday there was no hiding for Bellerin, whose attacking output was simply not of the standard required.
Consistently poor crosses and pull backs were compounded by consistently giving the ball away.
Again the disappointment with his own performance was clear as the 25-year-old could be seen hopping around in frustration at his inability to play a simple ball to Nicolas Pepe when the Gunners looked to counter.
The question may seem harsh but it does have to be asked if Bellerin would be starting were Tierney fit. Cedric may have had a poor performance today, but the Spaniard’s underwhelming displays are becoming something of a worrying trend for the Gunners.
Old habits die hard
The press conference after the game was a strange one as Mikel Arteta began by refusing to open up on what he had said to referee Chris Kavanagh at the full time whistle (more on that later).
Stranger still though was the Spaniard’s assessment of a highly underwhelming display from his side.
“Really strong performance again today,” said Arteta. “We completely dominated the game, we dominated every department and we should have won the game.
“But, in the Premier League when you just give a goal to opponents, and we gave them another three opportunities to be fair ourselves, we gifted it to them, and then you are not ruthless in the box, you cannot win these games.
“The rest, the way the team played, the energy that they showed, the quality that they showed, the amount of chances and situations that we created, how quickly we regained the ball, how we controlled long balls second balls, how aggressive we were, just incredible.”
Having seen his side struggle to break down a Villa who were probably the better team on that day it was difficult to argue that Arteta’s analysis really rang true.
Instead it felt like Arsenal were returning to some of the more concerning characteristics seen in the winless November and December run.
Despite having 67% of the possession and nearly double the number of passes, the Gunners ended up with less than half of the number of shots of their opponents.
The attacking talents of Aubameyang, Saka, Odegaard, Smith Rowe, Pepe and Willian were all on the pitch by the end of the game, but at no point did Arsenal ever really look like they were going to score.
Of course he will try and put a positive spin on things to the press after, but it will be a worry for Arteta, that his side are showing signs of what he has worked so hard to move them away from.
More refereeing controversy
Going into the game the sense of injustice around Arsenal was already pretty palpable.
The FA’s decision to uphold the red card of David Luiz but overrule that of Southampton defender Jan Bednarek was something Mikel Arteta was openly questioning in his pre-match interview.
“We put a case and hoped it would be overturned,” he told BT Sport. “It didn’t surprisingly, but it did with the Southampton boy. But we have to accept it.”
What happened in the game will have done little to make the Spaniard think that his team were getting the rub of the green when it came to refereeing decisions.
Ezri Konsa was only booked for hauling down Bukayo Saka when it seemed as though the England international was clear on goal, while VAR chose not to deem Emi Martinez’s shirt pull on Alexandre Lacazette worthy of a penalty on closer inspection.
After the game Arteta marched towards the centre circle in order to remonstrate with Chris Kavanagh and his refereeing team.
On camera the Spaniard could be heard saying “I am speaking to you with respect,” but the officials simply had no interest in engaging.
It is tiresome to write about referees and in reality if the decisions had gone Arsenal’s way it would have been harsh on Aston Villa, who were deserved winners on the day.
But decisions haven’t fallen for the Gunners in recent games, something which Arteta was keen to point out after the game.
“No,” he said when asked if there was consistency in the decisions referees have been making in the Premier League this season.
“As you can see me, I was really animated for a few decisions and one big decision that I will not discuss here as well what happened.”
In fairness to the Gunners boss he was intent on refusing to use the perceived injustice as an excuse.
“But it’s what it is,” he added. “It’s not an excuse. Regardless of those decisions we have to win the game. It’s as simple as that.”
But the reality is that his side do not appear to have luck on there side at the moment, which even the greatest need to succeed.
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