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Key events
76 min: Villa double-substitution: Lamare Bogarde and Jadon Sancho are on for Onana and McGinn.
74 min: Bukayo Saka is booked for a foul on Maatsen, or for complaining to the referee about being penalised for a foul on Maatsen.
71 min: Riccardo Calafiori is booked for a foul on McGinn and will have to serve a one-match ban under the totting-up rules. He’ll miss Arsenal’s match against Wolves next weekend and while his side will miss a player of his quality, they’ll probably cope in a home match against the worst team in the division.
69 min: From a few yards outside the Villa area, Martin Odegaard connects beautifully with the ball. Emi Martinez dives to paw the ball away with a fingertip as it threatens to sneak under the ball. From the resulting corner, the ball breaks to Saka, whose low shot towards the corner is blocked by Kamara.
68 min: Declan Rice finds himself on the edge of the Villa penalty area under a dropping ball. He catches it on the volley but sends his effort sailing high over the bar.
66 min: Villa substitution: Donyell Malen replaces Ollie Watkins.
65 min: Villa break upfield on the counter and Watkins brings a smart save out of David Raya. This is very exciting.
62 min: Boubacar Kamara steals the ball from Calafiori just outside the Arsenal penalty area and advances into space. He has a clear sight on goal but hesitates, possibly because Watkins is in his way. By the time he gets around to trying his luck, Hincapie is able to block. A wonderful Villa chance goes to waste.
60 min: Onana plays the ball right and wide to McGinn but his cross is blocked by Calafiori. Villa win a throw-in near the corner flag and there’s no towel for Matty Cash either. He dries the ball with his shirt before chucking it long. The ball finds its way to Ian Maatsen, who shoots over the bar.
58 min: I didn’t mention it at the time but it’s probably worth noting for the record that it was Arsenal’s Mr Reliable, Declan Rice, who won the ball in midfield in the build-up to their equaliser. He played it to Odegaard, who picked out Saka and it was the England winger’s pull-back that Trossard sidefooted home with precision.
56 min: Villa free-kick, wide on the left, near the angle of the Arsenal penalty area. The delivery is cleared, Villa recycle the ball and John McGinn plays a wonderful weighted pass towards the byline from deep. Matty Cash runs on to it but slices his cross horribly.
54 min: Villa break forward with Ollie Watkins advancing inside the Arsenal penalty area with the ball at his feet. He shoots towards goal but his effort is blocked by Hincapie.
GOAL! Aston Villa 1-1 Arsenal (Trossard 53)
52 min: Behind on the scoreboard, Arsenal are very much on the front foot on the pitch in the early stages of this second half. And with that they equalise! Leandro Trossard sidefoots home from close range and a narrow(ish) angle after good work by Bukayo Saka, who’d squared the ball across the face of the Villa goal.
49 min: Leandro Trossard brings a fairly routine save out of Emi Martinez with a shot.
48 min: Arsenal have a throw-in deep in Villa territory. Calafiori tries to take it long but fails to clear the first defender. The ball is almost certainly soaking wet and Villa’s ball boys and girls aren’t about to hand the Arsenal full-back a towel.
46 min: Arsenal win a free-kick wide on the left in a decent crossing position but Declan Rice plays it short to Martin Odegaard. Arsenal eventually sling the ball into the Villa penalty area and win a corner courtesy of some decent defending by Ezri Konsa. Bukayo Saka’s inswinger is cleared, the ball is recycled and ends up in the hands of Martinez.
Second half: Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal
46 min: Play resumes at a rain-drenched Villa Park with two changes in the Arsenal line-up. Viktor Gyokeres and Leandro Trossard are on for Merino and Eze.
Half-time: Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal
Well, well. An extremely entertaining half of football draws to a close with Aston Villa leading by the only goal of the game, a beauty from Matty Cash. It was an excellent strike by the Villa right-back but the goal was preventable. Jurrien Timber helped the ball on its journey into Cash’s path from Rogers’ cross, while Eberechi Eze dozed off and failed to track the goalscorer’s run in behind him.
45+3 min: With a shimmy and a soft-shoe shuffle, Morgan Rogers cuts inside White and Saka from the left and pokes the ball towards Tielemans in the Arsenal six-yard box. He’s unable to pick out his teammate and David Raya seizes the ball. It’s half-time.
45+1 min: Ollie Watkins has the ball at his feet at the right side of the Arsenal penalty area. He surveys his options, performs a couple of stepovers and pulls it back to … Arsenal’s Pierro Hincapie.
43 min: Rice tries a shot but doesn’t get enough power behind it to trouble Emi Martinez.
41 min: I was struggling to identify the Villa player who sent the cross towards Cash but it came off the boot of Pau Torres and was helped along by an inadvertent flick from Jurrien Timber. Make no mistake, however, it is Eze at whom the inevitable Big Finger O’Blame will be pointed.
38 min: That’s a superb first-time strike from Cash on the right side of the six-yard box. As Declan Rice shakes his head in disappointment, Eberechi Eze put his in his hands. It was he who let Cash ghost in behind him to connect with the cross which was flicked his way.
GOAL! Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal (Cash 36)
Aston Villa lead! The Villa right-back sneaks in behind Eberechi Eze to meet a cross from the left and lash a first-time effort through David Raya’s legs from a fairly narrow angle.
35 min: Arsenal get the ball into the Villa box, where Eze is penalised for dragging out of Pau Torres as both players contest the dropping ball. Eze’s been quiet so far – I’d forgotten he is on the pitch.
33 min: Rogers plays the ball forward to Watkins, who tries to take on Jurrien Timber but is unable to cut inside the Arsenal defender from the left side of the penalty area.
31 min: Youri Tielemans is penalised for a foul on Calafiori just inside the Arsenal half and protests his innocence at great length. Replays suggest his case is weak and it would be a waste of time and money getting the Good Law Project involved.
27 min: With both Arsenal’s full-backs spending long periods of time high up the pitch in forward positions, Villa try to take advantage. Rogers runs into space down the left and crosses, the ball breaks to Matty Cash in acres of space on the right and as he shapes to shoot, Declan Rice appears out of nowhere to block his effort.
25 min: Ian Maatsen wins a corner off Jurrien Timber and does some arm-waving of his own in a bid to whip up the crowd. Matty Cash’s delivery is uncharacteristically poor and the ball is hacked clear by Arsenal’s first defender, Declan Rice.
23 min: Arsenal have been dominating proceedings for the past 10 minutes and are looking more and more confident. On the ball halfway inside the Villa half, Rice waves his teammates forward with both arms.
20 min: Arsenal get the ball in the Villa net, with Saka running on to a short weighted Ben White pass in behind before squaring the ball for Eberchi Eze to tap in from a couple of yards. It was an excellent move but the flag goes up because Saka mistimed his run.
18 min: Bukayo Saka advances down the inside right but runs into a wall of resistance in the form of Pau Torres. The ball goes out off the Villa defender for what should be an corner but the officials award a goal-kick. Understandably, Saka is not happy.
17 min: Mikel Merino tries to advance through midfield with the ball at his feet but is dispossessed by Boubacar Kamara.
15 min: Bukayo Saka forces a save out of Martinez with a shot from distance in a very lively, competitive and entertaining game of football between two very good teams.
13 min: If Watkins had scored there, I think Arsenal might have drawn the referee’s attention to what they perceived to be a foul on Riccardo Calafiori in the build-up. The Italian went down under a challenge from McGinn, who proceeded to play the ball in forward for Watkins. The Villa striker did well to create room for a shot under pressure from Timber and Hincapie but ultimately came up short.
10 min: Ollie Watkins finds himself clean through on goal after a slip from Jurrien Timber but is denied by a superb save from David Raya, who gets low down to his left to keep out the shot from 10 yards. Watkins should have put Villa ahead!
9 min: The ball breaks to Odegaard after Timber wins it high up the field and he tries his luck with a dipping drive from outside the Villa penalty area. He gets plenty of power behind his shot but it’s straight at Martinez.
8 min: Lots of blood and thunder thus far, with both teams pressing high. There’s been little in the way of finesse.
6 min: David Raya miscontrols a backpass with a poor first touch, has a minor panic and launches the ball into the stand as it briefly threatens to trickle over the goalline he’s supposed to be defending.
5 min: Villa seem hell-bent on launching high balls in the direction of the Arsenal backline early doors and Jurrien Timber deals with the latest more than capably despite being swarmed by a couple of attackers.
4 min: Ian Maatsen tries to canter up the left touchline for Villa but has a stop put to his gallop near the halfway line. Arsenal throw-in.
2 min: Jurrien Timber is playing alongside Pierro Hincapie in the heart of Arsenal’s defence, while Ben White is playing at right-back again after his excellent performance against Brentford.
1 min: Arsenal launch the ball forward down the right flank, win a throw-in and then concede a free-kick. From near the corner flag, Emi Martinez wellies the ball upfield as hard as he can.
Aston Villa v Arsenal is go …
1 min: Arsenal get the ball rolling in what could be a thrilling game, their players wearing white shirts, with burgundy shorts and socks. Villa are in their usual home colours.
Not long now: Both sets of players line up in the Villa Park tunnel, all the better to be led out in by Peter Bankes and his team of match officials. Led by Martin Odegaard, Arsenal are one of only two teams to beat Villa on their own turf since August (the others being Crystal Palace, something of a Villa bogey team).
John McGinn wears the armband for a Villa team hoping to make it seven wins on the bounce in all competitions. It’s time to cue the home side’s walk-on music: Crazy Train by the late, great Ozzy Osbourne, who performed live for the final time in his storied career at this ground in July.
Today’s match officials
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Referee: Peter Bankes
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Assistants: Eddie Smart and Blake Antrobus
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Fourth official: Adam Herczeg
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VAR: Darren England
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Assistant VAR: Mark Scholes
Aston Villa: Having failed to win any of their opening six Premier League matches, Unai Emery’s side have won eight of their last nine to catapult themselves up the table. Ben Fisher finds out where it all went right for today’s hosts …
Aston Villa v Arsenal line-ups
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash. Konsa, Torres, Maatsen, Onana, Tielemans, Kamara, McGinn, Rogers, Watkins
Subs: Bizot, Lindelof, Digne, Garcia, Bogarde, Hemmings, Buendia, Malen, Sancho
Arsenal: Raya, White, Timber, Hincapie, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Eze, Merino
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Salmon, Martinelli, Gyokeres, Norgaard, Trossard, Madueke, Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly.
Declan Rice and Emi Martinez both start
There’s good news for both teams, in so far as Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has been passed fit to line up at Villa Park despite being forced off with seven minutes to go in Arsenal’s win over Brentford on Wednesday. Emi Martinez missed Villa’s victory over Brighton on the same evening but has also been deemed sufficiently fit to line up against his former club.
In considerably less good news for Arsenal, Gabriel and William Saliba remain absent from the heart of the visitors’ defence, while Cristhian Mosquera is also out. Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze and Jurrien Timber are all back in the side, while Mosquera, Noni Madueka and Gabriel Martinelli make way.
Unai Emery makes two changes to the Villa side that did so well against Brighton. Martinez is back between the sticks in place of Marco Bizot, while Youri Tielemans comes into the side with Evann Guessand dropping out. He’s not in Villa’s matchday squad.
Early team news
Mikel Arteta was understandably coy upon being asked about the availability of Declan Rice and Cristhian Mosquera yesterday, saying “we’ll see, because every hour is important at this stage”. Gabriel is definitely out, while Arteta said the Brazilian’s centre-back partner William Saliba is “days away” from a return, much like Leandro Torrassard. Kai Havertz remains sidelined with a knee injury, while Garbiel Jesus has been an unused substitute in Arsenal’s last two league games and is waiting to make his first appearance of the season after nearly 11 months out with a ruptured ACL.
Having been forced out of Villa’s helter-skelter win over Brighton in the warm-up, Emi Martinez said he wouldn’t know if the Argentinian goalkeeper would be fit for today’s game “until the last minute”. Tyrone Mings remains out with a thigh injury and is not expected to be back for another four weeks, while Ross Barkley is back in the treatment room with a knee injury after a run of eight games and is not expected to be back in action until February.
Premier League: Aston Villa v Arsenal
Good day everybody, wherever you might be and here’s hoping you’ve all recovered from the surreal, stilted, extremely long, unintentionally funny and occasionally downright unpleasant experience that was last night’s World Cup draw. Having been tasked with liveblogging that particular fever dream, it’s nice for me to be back in action doing something a little more straightforward and less weird – an actual football match between the top two teams in the Premier League form table: Aston Villa and Arsenal.
The top team in the actual Premier League table, Arsenal can increase the gap to their nearest rivals to eight points with a win in today’s early kick-off but will have to beat an Aston Villa side who have won eight of their last nine top flight matches to do so. Mikel Arteta’s side chalked up a fairly routine 2-0 win against Brentford last time out.
Under Unai Emery, who endured an unproductive 18-month spell in charge of Arsenal before being replaced by Arteta in 2019, Villa’s recovery from a surprisingly sluggish start to the season has been little short of remarkable and a win today would see them leapfrog Manchester City to go second in the table and – whisper it – possibly start getting mentioned in passing as potential title contenders. They come into today’s match still high on the hog after a thrilling 4-3 win against Brighton on Wednesday night in which Ollie Watkins ended his long barren spell with two goals. Kick-off at Villa Park is at 12.30pm (GMT) but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.
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