Different year, same old feeling for Mikel Arteta. By now he must view a home engagement with Aston Villa as something akin to a kick in the spuds.
They killed Arsenal’s title challenge in this fixture in April 2024 and the re-run here might well prove to be terminal to the efforts of 2025.
It wasn’t a defeat, so that is one note of difference, but it certainly had the echo of one for a side whose pursuit of Liverpool offered little forgiveness for slips. At six points behind, and with Arne Slot’s side holding a game in hand, Arteta will be acutely aware of what Arsenal blew along with their two-goal lead.
We should dwell on the particulars of that for a moment, because this was an implosion. A collapse. A tale of familiar shortcomings in their attack and a susceptibility to panic in their minds, underlined by the woeful marking that allowed Villa to return from the dead with two strikes in eight minutes.
A word on Villa – they stepped up well. They made it hard after being pulled from pillar to post in the course of going behind to Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz goals either side of the break.
But Arsenal were so horribly flimsy once the pressure came. When they most needed to be resolute, when their season called for no more mis-steps, they instead embarked on acts of self-sabotage. The first stage of the comeback, finished wonderfully by a Youri Tielemans diving header, could be traced to weak tracking from Mikel Merino.
Arsenal were dealt a blow in the title race as Aston Villa fought back in a 2-2 draw
Ollie Watkins tucked a superb volley over David Raya to complete the comeback
Kai Havertz’s goal had put the Gunners two goals ahead in a thriller at the Emirates
The second? That was a cracking volley from Ollie Watkins, but Thomas Partey’s dismal concentration gave him a free run at Matty Cash’s cross. Arteta looked furious and rightly so.
Given their injuries to Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka, it is perhaps no wonder they have fallen so far behind Liverpool, but this was also the sort of day that reminded us, for the umpteenth time, that Arsenal need striking reinforcements in the January market.
They had multiple chances at 2-2 for a winner, many falling to the otherwise impressive Leandro Trossard, but none made it in, save for a Merino volley ruled out correctly for a deflection off Havertz’s elbow. Beautiful patterns and quick transitions are lovely, and Arsenal do them well, but two goals from 17 shots, many of them from strong positions, was a poor accounting.
For Unai Emery, it was further evidence that Villa’s November wobbles were a blip. They are picking up speed again and appear to have fixed their aversion to away fixtures. But Arteta will feel no such momentum.
Partly by necessity and partly by choice, he had made two changes to the 11 used in Arsenal’s neighbourhood dispute with Tottenham on Wednesday, and that encompassed the absence of William Saliba.
He will need a week to manage a tight hamstring, but this was a nasty sign of what can happen when he is not in the side. To cater for his lay-off, Jurrien Timber was nudged to centre-half and Partey was repurposed as a right-back – it was nothing like as sturdy.
Villa plainly intended to target such vulnerabilities, with Emery’s strategy hinged on a plan to feed Jacob Ramsey on the left and Ian Maatsen on the overlaps. The problem, in the initial stages at least, was that Arsenal were in no mood to share the toy.
They had early control of the game and that sense was inevitably heightened by their volume of corners, totalling four in the opening 10 minutes alone, but aside from a pair of strikes by Martinelli and Leandro Trossard, each blocked by Emiliano Martinez, it was low-yield stuff.
Arsenal looked to have won it at the death but Mikel Merino’s strike hit Havertz’s arm
Havertz wheeled away to celebrate but VAR intervened to chalk the goal off for handball
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Given a little time to settle, Villa began to look dangerous on the break, only for Watkins to run repeatedly into Gabriel Magalhaes – as ever, precious little got past him.
When Villa did have a decent opening, after Maatsen was given too much room by Martinelli, the drive was directed straight at David Raya.
Off those relatively solid foundations, Arsenal scored 10 minutes before the break.
Trossard was a key component, buying some space from Boubacar Kamara on the left and then whipping his delivery across the six-yard box. Martinelli, having lurked on Maatsen’s blindside, threw himself into a volley that Martinez initially seemed to save, only for the goal-line technology to prove otherwise.
Maatsen was hooked by Emery in favour of Lucas Digne at half-time, but Arsenal’s pressure carried on beyond the restart and Havertz’s strike for 2-0 appeared to kill the game.
Once again it was Trossard who assisted, squeezing a cross past Cash and Havertz got a step ahead of Tyrone Mings to meet it. The volley was straight at Martinez, but he was slow in shifting his feet, so he will view the goal as an error.
If Liverpool’s late win at Brentford, had sapped the mood at the Emirates Stadium earlier in the evening, this 2-0 lead had restored some faith. But it all went so horribly wrong.
Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring after ghosting in at the far post to beat Emi Martinez
Martinez pushed the ball away from the net but replays showed it had already crossed the line
Tielemans stooped to beat Raya and halve the deficit, sparking Villa’s resurgence
Mikel Arteta’s title hopefuls are now six points adrift of runaway league leaders Liverpool
Tielemans was first to eat into the deficit with a diving header, afforded by Merino’s fairly dire marking from a Digne ball, and then Watkins threatened to turn the place feral with his volley for 2-2.
This time it was Cash with the high cross into the area and Partey who was guilty of ball watching. He was almost stationary as that delivery dropped behind Havertz; Watkins, far more alert, had bothered to track the flight and nailed the finish.
In between those goals, Tielemans hit a post, and thereafter Arsenal had a flurry of chances. None of them got through, except the Merino volley that clipped Havertz’s elbow. The VAR was spot on with its assessment; Arsenal’s accuracy was anything but.
They know this feeling too well by now.
