Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHaving, picked the same starting line-up that cruised to a 3-0 win against Coventry in their season opener 10 days earlier, Saka, who was on the scoresheet in that victory, again delivered a valuable contribution.<\/p>\n
Underlining the quality at Arteta\u2019s disposal, England centre-back Ezri Konsa came off the bench in the closing stages for his Arsenal debut against his former club after leaving Villa in a \u00a351 million ($69 million) move on August 21.<\/p>\n
Arsenal will face the first serious test of their ability to retain the title on Sunday when they host London rivals Chelsea, who have also won their first two matches.<\/p>\n
By then, Arsenal could be bolstered by another new arrival as they continue to track unsettled Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez ahead of Tuesday\u2019s transfer deadline.<\/p>\n
The only concern for Arteta was a potential injury that forced Declan Rice to limp off in the closing stages.<\/p>\n
For Villa, the feeling of frustration is growing after a second consecutive defeat.<\/p>\n
Unai Emery\u2019s team slumped to a 4-0 loss at Brighton in their opener in the midst of the club\u2019s astonishing summer sale.<\/p>\n
Motivated in part by the need to keep in line with Premier League financial rules, Villa have ripped apart their Europa League-winning squad, selling Konsa, Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins, Emiliano Martinez, Lucas Digne and Youri Tielemans.<\/p>\n
Villa look a shadow of the vibrant team that ended their 30-year trophy drought last term, leaving Emery with a daunting job on his hands.<\/p>\n
In keeping with the sense of a club under renovation, one end of Villa Park was closed to fans on Monday due to building work to increase the capacity.<\/p>\n<\/amp-img>Aston Villa manager Unai Emery. (Photo by Darren Staples \/ AFP)<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHowever, the team were praised for their fight against the reigning champions and heavy title favourites.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Villa did OK,\u201d former great Jamie Carragher said on Sky Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsidering new players in there and who they were up against, as well on the back of such a poor performance last week, the only thing Villa could really do was try to stay in the game as long as possible. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey did that to a certain extent \u2013 but you\u2019re looking at arguably the best defensive team in world football, so it\u2019s very, very difficult.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nVilla\u2019s struggles in attack were laid bare by a telling stat: they are just the second team, and first since Swansea City in 2017\/18, to fail to have a single shot on target in their first two Premier League matches.<\/p>\n
Nicolas Jackson made his club debut after arriving from Chelsea as Watkins\u2019s replacement in attack, while Japan goalkeeper Zion Suzuki, a recent signing from Parma, was given his maiden appearance.<\/p>\n
Villa winger Emiliano Buendia lashed a fierce strike against the crossbar in a rocky start for Arsenal.<\/p>\n
The Gunners eventually recovered their composure and Villa defender Pau Torres was forced to make a superb block to stop Christos Tzolis tapping in Saka\u2019s cross.<\/p>\n
Arsenal appealed in vain for a penalty when Riccardo Calafiori tumbled under contact from Torres late in the first half.<\/p>\n
After his side showed a distinct lack of cutting edge in the opening period, Arteta replaced Tzolis with Eberechi Eze at the interval.<\/p>\n
The change made an impact and Victor Lindelof needed to make a last-ditch intervention to stop Kai Havertz converting Rice\u2019s pass.<\/p>\n
Martin Odegaard curled a free-kick inches wide after VAR overturned the initial decision to award a penalty for Ian Maatsen\u2019s barge on Saka because the foul took place just outside the area.<\/p>\n
It was only a temporary reprieve for Villa as Saka broke the deadlock at the climax of a perfectly constructed raid in the 59th minute.<\/p>\n
Eze\u2019s pass picked out Calafiori\u2019s run into the Villa area and the defender\u2019s low cross was poked in by Saka from close range.<\/p>\n
Havertz\u2019s blast was saved by Suzuki before Konsa made his debut to a mix of boos and applause from conflicted Villa fans.<\/p>\n
With Konsa helping to shutdown Villa\u2019s forwards, Arsenal were able to wrap up a gritty success.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arsenal extended their flawless start to the Premier League season as Bukayo Saka sealed the champions\u2019 1-0 win against troubled Aston Villa on Monday. Saka\u2019s second-half strike at Villa Park wrapped up Arsenal\u2019s second successive victory. In a statement of intent to their title rivals, Mikel Arteta\u2019s side have taken maximum points from their opening […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":260517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-260516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}