Gunners look into Auba red
DEAN SMITH believes Danny Drinkwater will make Aston Villa a better team despite his nightmare debut.
Chelsea loanee Drinkwater went straight into the starting line-up against champions Manchester City and looked well off the pace as City tore Villa apart 6-1. Smith substituted Drinkwater, 29, in the 79th minute on just his second Premier League start this term after only playing once on loan for Burnley.
The Villa boss, missing injured midfielder John McGinn, said: “Danny
Drinkwater will make us a better team. He started the game well – got on the ball and made some crisp passes.
“He has made a mistake for his second goal. But there was also a mistake in trying to run the ball out as well.
“Danny has got 75 minutes of match-time which we needed.
“He has come in and looked good in training – he certainly wasn’t the reason we got beat 6-1, that is for sure.”
Villa are now in the bottom three and badly need new keeper Pepe Reina, 37, who was in the stands to see the drubbing ahead of joining on loan from AC Milan until the summer.
Smith added: “We were certainly contributors to our own downfall.
“It became a bit of a containment job against a far superior team.” zManchester City striker Sergio Aguero became the highest-scoring non-British player in Premier League history with 177 goals, two ahead of Thierry Henry’s tally of 175. z Aguero netted his 12th Premier League hat-trick, making him the outright record holder for hat-tricks in the history of the competition, one ahead of Alan Shearer on 11. zAston Villa conceded six goals in a home league game for the first time since losing 6-0 against Liverpool in February 2016. zSince the start of the 2016-17 season, Pep Guardiola’s side have scored 343 league goals – 42 more than any other team. zThis was Guardiola’s 300th top-flight league win as a manager – he has reached that tally in just 390 games with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Man City (W300 D53 L37). zCity’s David Silva has assisted 21 Premier League goals for team-mate Sergio Aguero – the only player to assist another more in the competition is Frank Lampard for Didier Drogba (24 goals). zManchester City’s Riyad Mahrez is the only Premier League player to both score and assist 20 goals since the start of last season in all competitions (21 goals, 23 assists). zIn all competitions, Man City’s Kevin De Bruyne has assisted 15 goals this season – five more than any other Premier League player. zGabriel Jesus has started 76 matches for Manchester City in all competitions – he has been directly involved in 71 goals in those matches (54 goals, 17 assists). zAston Villa goalkeeper Orjan Nyland became the first goalkeeper in Premier League history to concede six goals on his first start in the competition.
Liverpool Man City Leicester Chelsea Man Utd Sheff Utd Wolves Tottenham Crystal Palace Arsenal Everton Southampton Newcastle Brighton Burnley West Ham Watford Aston Villa Bournemouth Norwich
P W 21 20 22 15 22 14 22 12 22 9 22 8 22 7 22 8 22 7 22 6 22 8 22 8 22 7 22 6 22 7 21 6 22 5 22 6 22 5 22 3
D 1 2 3 3 7 8 10 6 8 10 4 4 5 6 3 4 7 3 5 5
L F A Pts 0 50 14 61 5 62 25 47 5 47 21 45 7 39 29 39 6 36 25 34 6 24 21 32 5 31 28 31 8 36 31 30 7 20 24 29 6 29 31 28 10 25 32 28 10 27 39 28 10 21 34 26 10 25 30 24 12 24 37 24 11 25 33 22 10 20 34 22 13 28 43 21 12 20 35 20 14 22 45 14
ARSENAL could appeal Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s red card for his challenge on Crystal Palace’s Max Meyer.
The Gunners are awaiting the referee’s report and details of the FA charge before deciding whether to proceed.
Aubameyang is facing a three-game ban for the late tackle which bent Meyer’s ankle during Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace.
Arsenal’s captain is set to miss games at home to Sheffield United and at Chelsea and Bournemouth in the FA Cup.
But the Gunners could point to the fact that their skipper was initially shown only a yellow card by referee Paul Tierney. It was only upgraded to a red after Video Assistant ref Craig Pawson spent about three minutes looking at slow motion replays.
After the match the official reason given for the red card read: “VAR determined the point of contact and intensity of the challenge endangered the safety of the opponent and recommended upgrading the yellow card to a red card for serious foul play.”
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