Paul Lambert’s Villa went to London and stole 3 points off Arsenal on the league opener. The Gunners faithful showed up expecting to win after their side had won 8 of the last 12 opening fixtures with the other 4 being draws. In fact the last team to beat them on opening day was some club named Coventry City.
The game was a great advert, to the new viewers that NBC believes will be tuning in, for the league. It had everything.
Villa started the game with only one of the summer signings, Toni Luna, in the starting eleven. The biggest surprise was El Ahmadi playing in central midfield after he struggled last season. Yacouba Scylla played in the under 21 side earlier this week, so he wasn’t going to play, but the youngster seemed to have cemented a spot in the starting line-up last season.
In the early minutes Villa looked like it was in pre-season mode. Passes were wayward, Benteke had a poor first touch and the team couldn’t get hold of the ball. It looked like the side needed a punch in the stomach. That came inside the sixth minute. Vlaar jumped rashly into a tackle on Rosicky. The Czech player was fouled, but the ref played advantage. Oxlade-Chamberlain got the ball down the left wing, Vlaar and Lowton were out of the picture and Baker looked indecisive of whether to go out wide and leave Luna alone or stay with GIROUD in the middle. As a result he was caught in no man’s land and the forward had an easy job poking home the wingers pass.
It got worse for Villa as Baker went down in a heap and was later replaced by Clarke for an unrelated head injury. For some reason, Arsenal was fouling Villa all over the field and a few players were left holding injuries and the home fans got riled, believing the Villans were faking.
Just like last season, the goal shook Villa to life and Arsenal never got another shot at goal in the first half. In the fifteenth minute, Benteke finally controlled the ball well and all seemed right with the world.
A few minutes later, Gabby went on a run, got a little luck with a kind bounce, took the ball around the keeper who tripped him. The ball fell to Weimann who hit the side netting. The ref must have decided that Weimann’s angle was too sharp to be an advantage and decided to award the penalty. Arsenal’s players were understandably upset, whilst Villa had to be wondering why Szczesny was only booked and not sent off.
BENTEKE stepped up and hit the penalty low and too close to the keeper, but there was enough power for the ball to bounce back up and the forward reacted well enough to head the rebound home.
Arsenal players were still furious and came at Villa hard. The Villa players began to give too many free kicks away and the ref began doling out cards to both teams, Wilshire got one for his reaction to one foul, just minutes after berating the ref for the penalty.
One of the strange moments of the half was when Gibb clashed heads with Weimann. The ref had stopped the game twice already for head injuries, but allowed the game to continue as Gibbs lay on the ground with blood streaming from his head.
Both keepers had scary moments. Luna had a mix up with Guzan that led to Walcott having control of the ball with no keeper in the goal. Clarke diverted his cross away. Szczesny came out to clear the ball and just managed to scramble back to keep out a Westwood shot.
The half ended with Luna getting booked for a perceived foul on Oxlade-Chamberlain. The linesman made the bad call. Replays showed it should have been a foul on the Gunner.
Villa started the second well, but Arsenal did get some pressure. Villa frustrated their opponents and tried to get forward as much as possible.
More controversy in the 61st minute. Gabby again was sprung and seemed to be one on one with the keeper. Koscielny came in from behind to clear the ball for a corner, but the same linesman from the Luna incident signaled a penalty. It was harsh, but the ref had earlier given a free kick against another player who won the ball but from behind. Again the defender only got the yellow card, but under the circumstances, even that seemed harsh. BENTEKE sent the goalie the wrong way.
Just five minutes later Weimann was caught by Koscielny. The incident seemed innocuous but the ref reached for his card again and the home side was down to 10 men. Three minutes later Vlaar was lucky not to receive his second yellow card for a much worse foul.
Arsenal kept coming at Villa and Guzan made two incredible saves, while Rosicky was wasteful with a great chance in front of goal.
Benteke came close to adding his third and substitute Bacuna didn’t quite catch the ball right when he was through on goal. Villa showed some brilliant counter attacking and none was better than the final minutes when Weimann cleared a corner on the edge of the area and found a Villa forward motoring down the field at pace. That forward was incredibly left back LUNA. Nobody was going to catch him and he sent the keeper the wrong way like a seasoned striker for a 3-1 lead.
The Arsenal fans immediately turned their anger from referee Taylor to Wenger with cries of you don’t know what you’re doing in contrast to the long suffering Villa fans who were in party mode.
Another injury to an Arsenal player held up play for 4 minutes which allowed most of the home fans to duck out of the ground and Villa went top of the table albeit for 2 hours.
Next up is Chelsea and if Villa lose by 7 or less it will still be better than last season.