Arsenal Vs Aston Villa: 5 Things We Learned

Arsenal was able to pull out a 2-0 win at Villa park despite the rain and the sloppiness. Here are three things we learned in the process.

Arsenal was out to take the top of the English Premier League table when they stepped onto the pitch at Villa Park. It was a dreary, nasty day, weather-wise and play-wise was not much better. Arsenal played a very sloppy 90 minutes. They were gifting the ball left and right. They were unable to really establish any sort of dominance. It felt just like Sunderland.

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However, just like Sunderland, Arsenal still managed to win and win convincingly.

The fact that a beaten and bruised Arsenal is learning to win tough games that they would have lost just last year is a huge testament to the quality that this team is starting to find. It looked like it was the same old Arsenal when they were dropping points after establishing leads like Norwich and West Brom but suddenly those two fixtures have been evened out with two rather ugly matches in Sunderland and Aston Villa. Both of which ended in wins.

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Don’t forget how many injuries Arsenal is dealing with. Had you said in the summer that by the time Christmas hit, Arsenal would be starting Joel Campbell and Mathieu Flamini, I don’t think the first thought would have been ‘yes, we’re challenging for a title.’ But that is exactly what Arsenal is doing through missing Coquelin long-term, Cazorla long-term and Alexis Sanchez short-term.

Arsenal is improving. A lot of it has to do with Petr Cech being able to command the back, but you can’t even attribute it all to that. Players are stepping up where normally it would have seemed impossible. Against Aston Villa, Arsenal proved it yet again. And in the process, we learned/re-learned some important lessons. Here are those five things, starting with a bit about our young Costa Rican, Joel Campbell.

Next: 5. Joel Campbell's Quality