Arsenal kicked off their Premier League campaign with another win, edging out Aston Villa 1-0 at Villa Park. Bukayo Saka delivered the winning moment, slotting home Riccardo Calafiori’s pass for the sole goal in a closely fought encounter.
The home side found it hard to carve out clear chances and ended the game without a shot on target, while Arsenal also struggled to create much in front of goal. Villa came closest when Emiliano Buendia hit the crossbar, though any goal from that play would likely have been disallowed due to a foul earlier in the move.
Saka breaks the deadlock for Arsenal
The key moment arrived after Arsenal had a penalty awarded and then overturned. Ian Maatsen was originally penalised for a challenge on Saka in the area, but a VAR check showed the contact happened outside the box, so a free-kick was given instead. Martin Odegaard sent the resulting set-piece just wide.
Arsenal then found the opener through Saka. Eberechi Eze, who came on at half-time for the booked Christos Tzolis, set up Calafiori, and his low cross found Saka. The England winger made no mistake from close range, scoring his third league goal at Villa Park.
The goal arrived despite Arsenal having rarely tested Villa goalkeeper Zion Suzuki. Kai Havertz later forced a save from the debutant as Mikel Arteta’s side pushed for a second goal to ease the tension.
Arsenal grind out another win
The champions were not as dominant as in their 3-0 opening victory over Coventry City, but they did enough to take all three points from Birmingham. Arsenal managed just two shots on target, though that was still two more than their opponents managed.
Gabriel Magalhaes and Saka both fired efforts off target in the first half, while Arsenal also had to cope with a second-half injury to Cristhian Mosquera. He was replaced by £55m signing Ezri Konsa, who made his Arsenal debut against his former team.
Konsa received a warm reception from the Villa fans just 10 days after leaving the club. He became the first player to debut for Arsenal against the side he had been signed from since Petr Cech faced Chelsea in August 2015.
Declan Rice also came off late in the match, though it was not clear whether his issue would become a serious problem.
Villa still looking for answers
For Unai Emery, the defeat showed how much work remains at Villa Park. Villa have lost many of the key players from the team that won the Europa League, and while a narrow loss to the reigning champions was better than the 4-0 defeat to Brighton, their attack remains a big worry.
Villa failed to register a shot on target at home for the first time in a Premier League match since May 2016, when they faced Newcastle United under caretaker manager Eric Black. That was also the season in which they had already been relegated.
After two league games, Villa had still not managed a single shot on target. The article notes that they became the first team to suffer that statistic since Swansea City in the 2017-18 campaign.
New Villa signings face tough start
There were competitive debuts for goalkeeper Zion Suzuki and former Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson, who were brought in to replace Emiliano Martinez and Ollie Watkins. Suzuki had an eventful first game, initially missing a corner before later spilling a Havertz effort and collecting it at the second attempt.
The Japan international also stopped a Rice header and a Havertz one-on-one. Both incidents involved offences – a foul and an offside – but Suzuki still made the saves. His distribution from the back was another positive, with the goalkeeper looking calm when Villa had the ball.
Jackson found it hard to make an impact up front, though he was given little service. Villa’s best chance came from Buendia, whose long-range strike hit the woodwork after a tackle that would probably have seen the goal ruled out.
Alejandro Garnacho and Aaron Wan-Bissaka also appeared as second-half substitutes for their Villa Park debuts. Ibrahim Mbaye and Taylor Harwood-Bellis watched from the stands, with their moves expected to be completed on deadline day.
Arsenal now have six points from their opening two matches, while Aston Villa have lost two in a row as Emery continues to rebuild his squad.