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Aston Villa v Arsenal: 3 things learned as Arsenal suffer back-to-back losses

By Megan Garbutt

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 06: Ollie Watkins of Aston Villa scores his team's first goal past Mat Ryan of Arsenal during the Premier League match between Aston Villa and Arsenal at Villa Park on February 06, 2021 in Birmingham, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 06: Ollie Watkins of Aston Villa scores his team's first goal past Mat Ryan of Arsenal during the Premier League match between Aston Villa and Arsenal at Villa Park on February 06, 2021 in Birmingham, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images) /
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3. The final third passing needs to improve

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Arsenal’s Norwegian midfielder Martin Odegaard (Photo by SHAUN BOTTERILL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) /

In recent weeks, Arsenal have been putting their chances away and playing promising football, which has shown in their results, but today that mentality was not there and the chances created had no end product.

Arsenal had plenty of chances to get back into the game in the second half and they had a lot of the ball, but the final product was not there and that isn’t just because of Villa’s solid defending, but it’s also down to the position of the players in the box and the choices made in the final third.

The passing accuracy that has been brilliant in recent weeks wasn’t there and I believe that played a big part in the defeat, as well as the pace of our attack that has been so vital to their recent victories.

Something else that Arteta may need to take into consideration is resting Bukayo Saka. He’s currently Arsenal’s best player and it’s always worrying when he’s not in the starting line up as he’s so vital, but playing so many minutes at such a young age could prove to take a toll on the youngster and he could overdo himself and risk getting injured if Arteta doesn’t start resting him for some games.

Arsenal have a tough run of fixtures coming up in the next couple of weeks, including league leaders Manchester City and Benfica in the Europa League, so if they perform like they did today, they will struggle to get results.

Next. Top 10 players to have scored a hat-trick against Liverpool. dark

What did you make of Arsenal’s display?

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