3 positives and 2 negatives from Arsenal's 4-1 thrashing of Unai Emery's Aston Villa

Arsenal moved five points clear at the top of the Premier League table as they demolished Aston Villa 4-1 at Emirates stadium.

The visitors came to north London on an eleven-game winning run and looked good value for it in the first half, slicing through their hosts almost at will on the counter. For their part, the Gunners saw two Viktor Gyokeres headers sail wide and, beyond that, would pose very little threat to a well-organised Emery defence.

But talk about a game of two halves! Arsenal tore Villa to shreds upon the restart, storming into a 2-0 lead inside seven minutes thanks to Gabriel and Martin Zubimendi. A third followed soon after when Leandro Trossard fired home from the edge of the box, while Gabriel Jesus capped a joyous night by netting his first goal in 363 days.

Positives and negatives from a huge Premier League win for Arsenal over Aston Villa

Ollie Watkins spoiled the Arsenal clean sheet in injury time yet it did little to hurt the atmosphere as fans revelled in a seismic victory, one which puts Mikel Arteta’s men six clear of Villa and piles some pressure on Manchester City.

Here are three positives and two negatives from a fantastic night for Arsenal and their continued title charge.

Positive #1: Gabriel doing Gabriel things

Oh, how Arsenal missed him in recent months!

Gabriel made his first start for the club since 8th November and proved his worth to their ranks with a fine display alongside William Saliba.

His leadership had the team looking much more solid in the second half after a dodgy first 45 and, of course, one must highlight the threat he bears from set pieces. No one can deny that he was helped out by poor Emi Martinez goalkeeping, but he still needed to use his strength to hold off the former Gunner (who pulled his shirt TWICE in that sequence) and bundle the ball over the line – gaining the upper hand for Arsenal immediately upon the restart.

Sky Sports gave him the MOTM award – there were probably more suited candidates in truth – but it serves to highlight his importance to the group; indeed, they conceded the goal just minutes after he got subbed off….  

Negative #1: Caught in transition

Though fans can smile now, a more clinical Aston Villa frontline might have brought about a different scoreline.

Few need reminding of the quality that an Emery team brings on the counter but, still, Arsenal failed to guard against it. The visitors carved several breakaway chances in the first half, with Watkins being guilty of two bad misses and Amadou Onana (thankfully) throwing himself to the ground as the goal stood at his mercy.

For whatever reason, the Gunners got split open time and again and would have been left quite the mountain to climb if the visitors had worn their shooting boots. That 3.09 xG for Villa discloses much about how that first half unfolded.

Today Arteta can rejoice in the fact that his side lived to tell the tale. However, further sloppiness like that on Saturday – or indeed when champions Liverpool come to town Thursday week – and they will could lose their extended lead very quickly.    

Positive #2: The attack flourishes

It is about damn time!

Arsenal should have been out of sight by half time versus Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup and they also squandered many chances to seal the win again Brighton last weekend (Gabriel Martinelli, I am looking at you).

Different story here.

That Zubimendi strike was their first, clear sight of goal all night, while Trossard did just brilliantly to steer his first-time hit inside the post. Yet no goal summed up this newfound efficiency quite like the Jesus one; a player who normally takes an age to shoot and often misses, this time he took one small touch to get the ball out of his feet before curling a beautiful shot past Martinez – it was his first shot of the night too.

Being ruthless in front of goal is so important in tight PL-level matches and how often is wastefulness in that regard the downfall of Arsenal? It makes little sense given the rich talent across that frontline and, at last, they displayed those riches in their full glory here.  

Long may it last.

Negative #2: Viktor Gyokeres

I do not mean to make anyone a scapegoat or a target of hate, but Viktor Gyokeres let himself down in this match.

His misses in themselves were a tad disappointing, not least that first header when he had quite a bit of time to steady himself for the Piero Hincapie cross only to nod over the bar. But hey, forwards miss chances all the time, no big deal.

What was more concerning was the lack of a positive impact in his all-round performance. He did not move about all that much to try stretch the Villa backline and, again, struggled greatly to hold up the ball under pressure from the away defence; one such failure led to a turnover from which Villa really should have scored.

At present, Gyokeres is neither scoring nor adding much value to the team out of possession and that sort of inefficacy simply will not do for a team competing in multiple competitions, not least when he has Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus battling with him for minutes.

His run as first choice might be over.  

Positive #3: Marker laid down

Sure, just give them the title now.

There was huge pressure on Arsenal heading into this game: Villa are a supposed title rival and they got the better of Arteta just a few weeks ago. Another win here would have dealt the Gunners a big psychological blow.

Instead, the home team rose to the occasion – not without some scares – and ultimately dished out a fierce beating to Emery. Doing it hot on the heels of MORE bad injury news (i.e. the knee injury for Declan Rice) only makes it that bit more impressive whilst putting a degree of pressure on Man City to do the business at the Stadium of Light on Thursday – Arsenal know firsthand how that is not so easily done.

No one will get carried away about it, especially as there is still a long way to go and the result here could have been very different with better Villa finishing. But five/six points remains a nice advantage and it will surely give the team a lift to have so promptly delivered some retribution after the loss at Villa Park earlier this month.

This group is ready to win.