Arsenal pile more misery on Villa as eight stars leave Champions League club
Updated . First published
Arsenal added to Aston Villa’s long list of problems with a 1-0 Premier League victory in Birmingham on Tuesday (AEST).
Villa were much improved from their disastrous 4-0 loss to Brighton but couldn’t breach the defences of the defending champions, who joined Manchester City at the top of the table with a perfect six points from two games.
Bukayo Saka of Arsenal celebrates scoring with Declan Rice. Getty Images
Lucas Herrington’s upstart Hull City and Chelsea are the only other clubs to have won both of their matches.
Bukayo Saka continued his hot start to the season by scoring Arsenal’s well-worked winner in the 59th minute at Villa Park.
“Every week, I want to be there and try and decide the game because I think that’s what I’m in the team to do, and that’s my mentality,” Saka said.
Japan international Zion Suzuki made his Villa debut in goal after Argentina’s World Cup winner Emiliano Martínez joined Chelsea on a three-year deal.
Martínez’s move just before the transfer deadline completed a damaging off-season exodus of Villa stars.
Ollie Watkins, Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans, Ezri Konsa, Jadon Sancho, Douglas Luiz and Lucas Digne have also left the club, who are in the Champions League after finishing fourth in England last season.
Konsa made his Arsenal debut in the win over Villa.
“Aston Villa are just building after losing a lot of players,” leading pundit Gary Neville said.
“For Arsenal, that is a statement win, where you just restrict the other team from having any shots on goal. Patient, present, mature. They were just in control.
“(Mikel) Arteta will be happy because his team is consistent.”
Host Villa began busily with Emiliano Buendia cracking one long-range effort against the bar, but Arsenal came into the game as the half wore on and ended the better of the two sides without really threatening Suzuki, who made history by becoming the first Japanese goalkeeper to play in the Premier League.
That pattern continued in the second half and the visitor thought it had a penalty with nine minutes gone when Ian Maatsen felled Saka.
The award was downgraded to a free kick after a video review but Saka was not to be stopped.
With almost an hour gone, he bundled home from close range after neat interplay between Eberechi Eze and Riccardo Calafiori.
Neither side managed to dominate the match and clear-cut chances were few.
Villa and Chelsea have agreed eight permanent or loan deals over the past four years, more than any other two Premier League teams.
Villa manager Unai Emery denied there was a special relationship between the clubs.
“Good relations? They want to kill us, and we want to kill them,” Emery said.
“It’s not a good relationship, it’s a deal for money and a deal for players. I am happy for Emiliano Martínez and Morgan Rogers and I know I am not happy for Chelsea.”
British media reported that Chelsea paid around $14 million to sign the 33-year-old Martínez.
“I want to be successful here,” Martínez said.
“I’m someone who wants to win at everything I do, and I want to bring that here to this football club because it’s a football club that wins titles, so I think it’s a good match.”
Martínez made 256 appearances for Villa after joining from Arsenal in 2020 and established himself as one of the Premier League’s leading goalkeepers.
England striker Watkins completed a move to Saudi Arabian team Al-Hilal for a reported $96 million.
The 30-year-old Watkins has been at Villa since joining from Brentford in 2020 and reached double figures in goals every season he was at the club.
“Six amazing years has come to an end,” Watkins wrote on Instagram.
“Thank you for the amazing memories and always supporting me through highs and lows. Saying goodbye is never easy to this club as it’s been a massive part of my life on and off the pitch.”
An exit was on the cards before the transfer window closed, with Emery revealing the striker had apologised for making himself unavailable for the club’s Premier League opener.
Villa has made 11 new signings during the summer, and it will take time for Emery to rebuild the side, but the Spaniard remained upbeat despite a second loss.
“We competed well against the team that is favourite to win the title,” he said.
“We are rebuilding, but there were a lot of positive things. We didn’t make clear chances, but we did not concede clear chances.”
Villa will try and get off the mark at Hull City on Sunday (AEST) while Arsenal’s watertight defence will get its first big test as they host free-scoring Chelsea on Monday (AEST). - with agencies
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