Arsenal put on a show on a Wednesday night at The Emirates once again. This one wasn’t as straightforward as it may have appeared at half time, though.
The Gunners were at their best in the first 45 and created a huge amount of chances, the only one that could be converted was by Gabriel Jesus, who pounced on a parried shot from Granit Xhaka.
The longer Arsenal only led by 1 and missed more chances, you felt a Villa sucker-punch may come, and it did. A Douglas Luiz corner flew straight into the net with Ramsdale muscled out the way by the Villa forwards.
With just 15 to go you feared that Arsenal would rue their missed chances. But as the Gunners have done so often this season, they responded immediately. Bukayo Saka teeing up Gabriel Martinelli with an excellent cross, the Brazilian guiding the ball expertly past Martinez.
It was then a scrappy end to the game but Arsenal held on to make it five wins from five. Up next, a trip to Old Trafford on Sunday.
Use our player rater tool below to have your say on how the players performed, and see the average of all the other fans. Scroll down to see how we rated the players and who we chose as the man of the match and flop of the match.
Here’s how I rated the players:
Aaron Ramsdale – 6
Ben White – 8
William Saliba – 7
Gabriel Magalhaes – 8
Kieran Tierney – 6
Albert Sambi Lokonga – 8
Granit Xhaka – 8
Gabriel Martinelli – 8
Martin Odegaard – 8
Bukayo Saka – 7
Gabriel Jesus – 8
Man of the match: Albert Sambi Lokonga. As you can see we’ve awarded a lot of 8’s, but I’m going to give the man of the match to Lokonga. There’s been a lot of talk about whether he could play that number 6 role and tonight he was very good. There’s still aspects of his game off the ball where he needs to improve, but on the ball he played with a renewed confidence and showed he can do more than a job there.Â