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Arsenal weren't convincing enough - actually, far from it - in their 2-1 loss to Aston Villa on Saturday night. They did not look good, and the home side thoroughly deserved the win at Villa Park.
It felt like a shot in the face for Arsenal fans. It is not just the loss that will take the mood all the way down at N5, it's also the way they lost and the context of the Premier League season.
Short answer: Premier League is not won or lost in December, but this is now five points Arsenal have dropped in their last two games.
Dropping five points when you were up by seven to start one of the most crucial months of the year must hurt, and now, their unbeaten streak is snapped, their defense is not as good as it was earlier this season due to injuries, and Manchester City are getting their wins, which should worry the Gunners.
Viktor Gyokeres' reflection on Arsenal's shocking loss to Aston Villa is spot on
The timing of it makes no sense, too. This loss must feel like a gut-punch, especially after seeing Arsenal play against and beat world-beating teams like Bayern Munich.
Viktor Gyokeres - who has still yet to start a game for Arsenal since returning from injury, was asked about the game, and his assessment of it was fair = actually, too fair.
He said: “We are of course disappointed with the result. It’s not a great feeling right now, but it’s only December and there are a lot of games to play. You can always find some positives, but it’s still a very difficult way to lose a football game. It’s tough right now, but we’ll look forward to the next one soon.
“We have to keep creating chances and get shots on goal because then you’ll eventually score more goals. So yes, that’s of course a positive and we just need to do things in between also a bit better.
“It’s football. If you score in the last few seconds or minutes, that is an unbelievable feeling, so it goes both ways. Today, unfortunately, it was the other way. It’s tough, but you learn from it. If we focus on what we can control and do in our favour and focus on the next game, we’ll be better, I think.”
He is absolutely spot on.
It is only December, and for every Premier League team, there are way too many matches left to be so annoyed about one loss.
However, the one loss must also feel bad. Crushing. Aston Villa are a great club, and they are on really good form - coming up to third in the table after the result.
However, it was time to put their Chelsea jitters behind them, but ultimately they fell short.