STOP PRESS: ARSENAL HAVE SOME BACKBONE!
JEERS TURN TO CHEERS AS 10 MEN TRIUMPH
BY THE end, the home crowd were on their feet applauding, screaming their praise and the players were smiling and waving and blowing kisses to their adoring public.
The only thing missing were roses thrown down from the top tier. This was a day when Arsenal found some backbone, summoned two late goals to triumph with 10 men against Aston Villa and moved back into the Premier League’s top four.
But just 20 minutes earlier, the same fans had cheered Unai Emery’s decision to replace Granit Xhaka and then booed their captain all the way to his seat on the bench.
At half-time, they had jeered the team back to the dressing rooms as they trailed to a goal by John McGinn.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles had been dismissed, having collected two yellow cards before the interval, Villa appeared capable of slicing through at will and the chill of a recent collapse at Watford hung in the air.
This was the day when Emery’s Arsenal showed some character to go with the goals by Nicolas Pepe, Calum Chambers and, inevitably, Pierre- Emerick Aubameyang.
And it came in an atmosphere osphere which fluctuated between mild panic and full- on hysteria, right up to a strong appeal for a penalty from Aston Villa for handball against Sokratis in the closing seconds.
‘I thought it was penalty,’ said Villa boss Dean Smith. ‘He leant towards the ball, which was going towards the goal. It has hit his arm so I don’t know why it wasn’t.
‘But if you’re asking about handballs in the box these days, I don’t know and I don’t think anyone knows.
‘We have seen some subjective ones. If they get a good view on the TV screens they need to overrule the on-field referee.’
Arsenal’s anxiety attacks set in when Maitland- Niles was sent off four minutes before the interval. He was on a yellow card for a trip from behind to stop Anwar El Ghazi in his tracks when he launched into what was judged to be a dangerous tackle on Neil Taylor.
Maitland-Niles was first to the ball — and injured in the process — but his studs were high and he caught Taylor.
Referee Jon Moss pulled out the red card as the defender was helped from the pitch by the medical team.
In between the two yellows, Maitland-Niles had been among those culpable as Arsenal let in another soft goal. He allowed El Ghazi turn inside on to his right foot and swing a teasing cross into the penalty area.
Nobody tracked the run of McGinn and he produced a clever finish, guiding the bouncing ball into the net with the outside of his left leg.
A goal down and a man down and Arsenal needed to show resolve.
Although, with depressing predictability, Sokratis figured the best way back into the game would be an underhand attempt to see Aston Villa also reduced to 10 men by feigning a facial injury after an untidy but harmless tangle with Wesley.
There was no contact and no-one fell for his theatrics.
The red card for Maitland-Niles also brought Bukayo Saka’s first Premier League start to an end at half-time.
Eighteen-year-old Saka, rewarded for a sparkling Europa League performance at Eintracht Frankfurt, was sacrificed when Emery needed to patch up his back four and send on Chambers at right back.
Arsenal found a route into the game from a penalty converted by Pepe after a fine jinking run by Matteo Guendouzi was halted by a clumsy foul from Bjorn Engels.
Pepe demanded the penalty rather than Aubameyang, clipped the spotkick down the centre and celebrated his first goal since his £72million £72 million summer move to Arsenal from Lille.
Arsenal were level for only a minute. They almost conceded immediately to McGinn but held out for a few seconds
more before Jack Grealish cut through them and pulled a low cross towards of the six-yard b box. Wesley darted ahead of David Da Luiz and poked the ball p past Bernd Leno. Emery made his changes chan from the touchli touchline, sending on b both Joe Willock and a Lucas torreira. Arsenal’s 10 m men poured forward.
tom heaton saved at full stretch to deny Guendouzi from distance.
Sokratis and Aubameyang both had bites at a corner without being able to produce an effort on target.
Chambers was thwarted by the boot of Marvelous Nakamba but found the net moments later, seizing on a tame header by tyrone Mings to lift a shot high into the net for his first goal for the club in more than three years.
Aubameyang grabbed the winner three minutes later, direct from a freekick given for another foul by Engels, this time just outside the area.
the forward now has seven goals in seven appearances in all competitions this season and has scored on his last eight starts at the Emirates Stadium, where Arsenal have lost only once at home in 21 games.
Sometimes it’s tempting to wonder what all the stress and panic is about.
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Leno 6; Maitland-Niles 4, Sokratis 6, Luiz 5, Kolasinac 6; Xhaka 6 (Willock 72min, 6.5), GUENDOUZI 7.5; Pepe 7, Ceballos 5 (Torreira 72, 6.5), Saka 6 (Chambers 46, 6.5); Aubameyang 6. Subs not used: Martinez, Nelson, Ozil, Martinelli. Scorers: Pepe (pen) 59, Chambers 81, Aubameyang 84. Booked: Maitland-Niles, Xhaka, Guendouzi, Leno, Aubameyang. Sent off: Maitland-Niles. Manager: Unai Emery 6.5
ASTON VILLA (4-3-3): Heaton 6; Guilbert 6, Engels 5, Mings 5.5, Taylor 6; McGinn 7, Nakamba 6.5 (Hourihane 86), Grealish 7; Trezeguet 6 (Elmohamady 68, 5), Wesley 6, El Ghazi 6 (Lansbury 86). Subs not used: Steer, Davis, Jota, Konsa. Scorers: McGinn 20, Wesley 60. Booked: Engels. Manager: Dean Smith 6. Referee: Jon Moss 6.5.
Attendance: 60,331.