Bernd Leno: What more could the German do but watch the chaos ahead of him? Certainly he would have done very well indeed to stop either of Villa's goals. 5
Ainsley Maitland-Niles: In far too many ways the young right-back is defining Unai Emery's Arsenal. There are flashes to convince you they are on the right path, the odd game where you can see this thrilling potential but look at the long-term picture and what progress is being made?
Maitland-Niles has been Arsenal's first-choice right-back for nine months and he is being torched by Anwar Al Ghazi, seemingly unaware of the basics of how to stop a winger crossing. His second yellow might have been unfair as he won the ball but it was a wayward tackle indeed. If that hadn't got him a read you suspect something else would have. 3
Sokratis Papastathopoulos: Though Arsenal's defensive enforcer had the better of Wesley more often than not you wouldn't have known it from the clumsy way he went about defending him. Particularly egregious was a bizarre attempt to con referee Jonathan Moss into thinking the Villa striker had hit him by brushing his face against his opponent's knee.
It is simply not the sort of conduct you expect from Sokratis. 5
David Luiz: Not conceding a penalty feels like a sign of progress for Luiz but then it was scarcely much better how he allowed Wesley to beat him to the near post and convert Villa's second. 4
Sead Kolasinac: You lost track of the number of occasions Kolasinac was caught upfield when Villa countered. If he lacks the pace to cover in defence then he shouldn't be bombing on with such gusto, particularly when the sum output of his drives forward is so minimal. 4
Matteo Guendouzi: A game to typify Guendouzi. His failure to spot the run of John McGinn cost Arsenal a goal and he struggled greatly in the remainder of the first half.
Determined to rectify his flaws in the second he set about doing everything he could, clearing up behind the defence, winning a penalty with his dynamic run and willing Arsenal back into the game with a take no prisoners attitude. Another peerless pass, this one for Calum Chambers, earned Arsenal a second equaliser.
If the mark of a player is how he responds to adversity then Arsenal have something remarkable on their hands. 8
Granit Xhaka: Though his passing numbers will once again look pretty it is only fair that we start asking what it is all for. With the Swiss at the base of midfield Arsenal were able to dominate possession and do absolutely nothing with it.
One of the needless yellow cards that are his stock trade came back to bite Arsenal in such severe fashion in the second half. He could do nothing to stop Jack Grealish ghosting past him to cross low for Wesley to score Villa's second. It was the sort of moment that really typifies what Xhaka has been far too often for Arsenal.
That Arsenal fans turned on him so vocally when they cheered his substitution feels like a momentous moment. So did the fact the Gunners' midfield was better with 10 men and no Xhaka than 11 men and the Swiss midfielder. 3
Nicolas Pepe: He is off the mark and as soon as he stroked that penalty in the swagger and verve that seemed to have evaded him at Watford last week was evident in abundance. Even before then he had been a dangerous attacking weapon, constantly driving at Neil Taylor and looking to provoke a mistake from the Arsenal left-back.
By the end of the game Pepe led his side for key passes, shots on target and dribbles completed in perhaps his best game yet in an Arsenal shirt. 7
Dani Ceballos: One of the few players in a red shirt to show any real character when the chips were down. He was always looking for the ball, attempting to up the pace for the Gunners at a time when they looked so cumbersome elsewhere. 6
Bukayo Saka: Arsenal's best player in the first half, he was clearly not cowering in the same way his team-mates were and looked the Gunners' best avenue for a goal. Emery will have some explaining to do as to why he was withdrawn? 7
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: As his frustrations visibly boiled over in the first half so did Aubameyang become a less threatening player. Credit for that must also go to Tyrone Mings, who marshalled the Premier Leagues most fearsome striker superbly.
Then when Arsenal needed him most he stepped up with a superb free-kick to win the day for the Gunners. 6
Calum Chambers (sub, Saka, 45'): Brought a degree more security to Arsenal's right flank in the second half and saved his side's bacon with a brilliant flick late in the game. 6
Joe Willock (sub, Xhaka, 72'): Everything the man he replaced wasn't, Willock drove forward and brought real energy to the midfled. 6
Lucas Torreira (sub, Ceballos, 72'): An industrious, energetic addition to Arsenal's midfield just when they needed it most. 5
