Gunners return fire
Partey and Co breeze past Villa to get back on track
THOMAS PARTEY had been waiting to score his first Arsenal goal, his drought becoming more and more of a talking point with every passing week and wayward long-range effort.
Arsenal had also not enjoyed anything like enough occasions this season when they had taken a lead and built on it to stroll to a comfortable victory.
Both issues were rectified against Aston Villa, and there will be no concern about how.
Partey broke his duck with a goal off his shoulder before a controversial second from PierreEmerick Aubameyang and deflected third from Emile Smith Rowe wrapped up Arsenal’s win.
While there was an element of fortune about Arsenal’s three goals, there was none about the outcome.
Villa were simply blown away. The half-time stats, which showed 14 Arsenal attempts to the visitors’ none, reflected their dominance for most of the night.
There was mixed injury news for Mikel Arteta before the match. An ankle problem ruled out Kieran Tierney, which forced Arteta to break up the back four that had started Arsenal’s last five league matches.
Summer signing Nuno Tavares replaced Tierney to make his first Premier League start. In a boost for the Gunners, Bukayo Saka was fit to start after the hefty whack on the calf he received from James McArthur that forced him off at half-time on Monday.
The opening minutes were lively. Aubameyang and Saka both miscued attempts to score before Alexandre Lacazette and Tavares pressed and dispossessed Villa players just outside their box, before the latter blazed over. Aubameyang did put the ball in the net but Lacazette, according to referee Craig Pawson, had overstepped the mark with his hassling and penalised the Frenchman for a foul on Ezri Konsa.
Returning goalkeeper Emi Martinez was particularly angered by a couple of calls that went against his side, including Pawson ignoring his appeals for a foul before Smith Rowe had a goalbound volley blocked.
Arsenal kept on raiding towards Villa’s goal. As Villa failed to clear a dangerous free-kick, Partey stuck out a leg and volleyed against the post and the adventurous Tavares had another effort deflected wide.
That led to the Smith Rowe corner from which Partey scored via his shoulder rather than head, his contact just evading the finger-tips of Martinez.
After Martinez had denied Saka a second with an outstretched leg, it appeared Villa would make it to half-time, with some fortune, just a goal down.
But just before half-time, Pawson finally had a chance to check a Matt Targett challenge on Lacazette in the box and eventually awarded a penalty after a lengthy review of the incident on the pitch-side monitor.
The now standard Martinez penalty mind games followed and he initially won, saving Aubameyang’s effort, but the Arsenal captain reacted quickest to fire in the rebound.
Having failed to have a single attempt on goal in the first half, Villa introduced Leon Bailey at half-time, and instantly carried more threat.
But their approach offered Arsenal further opportunities to launch attacks and from one, Smith Rowe found the net via Tyrone Mings’ leg and the inside of a post.
Aaron Ramsdale had been solid up to that point, though he was not forced to make a save until midway through the second half when Emi Buendia burst through — only to be denied by a brilliant save from Arsenal’s new No 1.
He had no chance though with 10 minutes left when Villa sub Jacob Ramsey struck.
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Ramsdale 8; Tomiyasu 7.5, White 7.5, Gabriel 7.5, Tavares 8; Partey 7.5, Lokonga 7.5 (Maitland-Niles 73min, 6); Saka 7, Lacazette 8 (Odegaard 68, 6), SMITH ROWE 8.5 (Maitland-Niles 90); Aubameyang 7.5. Scorers: Partey 23, Aubameyang 51, Smith Rowe 56. Booked: Lokonga, Aubameyang. Manager: Mikel Arteta 8. ASTON VILLA (3-4-1-2): Martinez 6; Konsa 6, Tuanzebe 6 (Bailey 46, 6), Mings 7; Cash 6.5, Luiz 6.5, McGinn 6.5; Buendia 6 (Ramsey 68, 6); Ings 5.5 (El Ghazi 77), Watkins 6. Scorer: Ramsey 82. Booked: Watkins, Mings, McGinn, Luiz, Targett. Manager: Dean Smith 6.5 Referee: Craig Pawson 7. Attendance: 59,496.