Tuesday evening…Villa Park…Arsenal…not quite ‘do or die’ but we had to match or better Watford’s result to keep the battle against relegation going, with some hint of the final day’s action going our way.
It was a largely lacklustre start from both sides and Elmo’s injury/non-injury was beginning to look like it might be the only bit of action we saw, but Arsenal were certainly dominating as we broke for the first water break.
There was something in that water though as almost from nowhere a corner came in and Trez absolutely hammered the ball into the back of the net. 1-0 – who’d have thunk it!
Into the break outside of the relegation zone – oh wasn’t it excite…nail-bitingly tense!
I’m not really sure what to say about the second half, we had good chances to have made it at least 3-0, but predictably missed them, but Arsenal failed to actually trouble us and by 80 minutes hadn’t had a shot on target, despite having most of the ball.
There was a bit more organisation, a bit more passion, a bit more bite from us and some players clearly improved and grew as the game went on – but you couldn’t shake that feeling of impending doom.
Arsenal ended the game without a single shot on target and Dean Smith almost exploded with delight at the final whistle – I can only imagine those at Villa Park heard the fans erupt from home.
Out of the bottom three, back in our hands after wasting so, so, so many previous opportunities.
One last big push and the recollection of the 2019/20 campaign will gain a different perception.
Right, oh yes, alcohol.
Unused Aston Villa Substitutes:
El Ghazi, Jota, Nyland, Hause, Vassilev.
Unused Arsenal Substitutes:
Bellerin, Papastathopoulos, Maitland-Niles, Macey, Smith.
Previous Article:
3 Shots, 80% Pass Accuracy – Villa Can Have Only One MotM After Unexpected Palace Victory
Villa Park
Premier League Version Fudge
30/07/2020 8:15 pm
Attendance: 0
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
| Aston Villa | Arsenal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trezeguet (27) | |||||||
| Reina | Martinez | ||||||
| Elmohamady | 25 | Holding | |||||
| Konsa | David Luiz | 60 | |||||
| Mings | Kolasinac | ||||||
| Targett | Cedric Soares | 79 | |||||
| McGinn | 93 | Ceballos | |||||
| Douglas Luiz | Torreira | 45 | |||||
| Hourihane | 73 | Saka | 60 | ||||
| Trezeguet | Lacazette | ||||||
| Samatta | 72 | Nketiah | |||||
| Grealish | Aubameyang | ||||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Guilbert | 25 | Xhaka | 45 | ||||
| Davis | 72 | Pepe | 60 | ||||
| Nakamba | 73 | Tierney | 60 | ||||
| Lansbury | 93 | Willock | 79 | ||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 8 | Goal attempts | 7 |
| 3 | On Target | 0 |
| 8 | Corners | 9 |
| 13 | Fouls | 19 |
| 2 | Yellow Cards | 4 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 31 | % | 69 |
Well we took our chance and held our nerve. Real credit to the boys – to keep the Gunners out so effectively was a real effort.
We just have to hold it together now. Keep it tight at the back again and hopefully nick the odd goal or two against the ‘ammers. Easy eh?
Not sure my fingers can take another 90 minutes…….
hassan
Have to admit after the final whistle I ran around my house shouting. My wife had to tell me to calm down, but was overjoyed as well. Keep the pedal to the medal lads for one last match !
As long as you weren’t in your pants, you probably weren’t alone!