Full-time: Arsenal 5-0 Aston Villa
They do win! Huzzah for them. Not so for Villa. You’d have to be pretty worried about them. That’s it from me. I’ll be over here in a few minutes. See you there. Thanks for all the emails and tweets. Bye!
Updated
Cazorla was hanging outside the Villa box, doing nowt much. So he cut inside and serviced Bellerín with a square ball and the full-back just side-footed it into the net from about 20 yards out. A fine finish that.
Updated
GOAL! Arsenal 5-0 Aston Villa (Bellerín)
I think Arsenal might win this.
Updated
90 mins Alan Smith gives his MOTM award to Özil. Hard to argue with that. There are three more minutes separating Arsenal from three points.
88 mins Bobby Pires is in the stands. He looks very happy with his lot.
86 mins ... that is swung over and cleared as far as Rosicky, on the edge of the box. He has a bit of time and the crowd want him to shoot. Instead, he plays the ball wide to Mertesacker who, naturally, is occupying the left-winger position. He dinks one into the box, naturally, and finds the head of Akpom. He is free of a marker but his header is weak and Guzan saves it easily enough.
84 mins Arsenal are toying with Villa now, passing the ball around, knowing well that Villa have given up on the hope of getting anything from this game. Meanwhile, Bellerín is set free down the right and looks to put one across the box for Akpom but can’t get there before the Villa defence do. A corner it is ...
82 mins Re the entry at 68 mins.
@ianmccourt That's Cleverley's speciality in big games!
— Venkat Krishnaraju (@Venkat_mufc) February 1, 2015
Not just big games. Little ones too.
81 mins ... Eh, no. Over 10 hours now. Deary me.
80 mins Back to the penalty for the moment. Akpom looked to have lost control of the ball but it was silly from Guzan to be charging out like that. Anyway. Villa have a free-kick about 30 yards from the Arsenal goal. Can Gil do anything with it? ...
78 mins Some subs to tell you about. Westwood comes on for Sánchez and Flamini takes over from Ramsey.
GOAL! Arsenal 4-0 Aston Villa (Cazorla)
Cazorla steps up and hits it to the right. Guzan gets his hand on it but it is not strong enough and the ball makes its way over the line.
Updated
Penalty!
75 mins Akpom gets the ball outside the box, holds off Okore and charges into the box. Out charges Guzan and down goes the young striker. The referee does not hesitate and Guzan, nor any Aston Villa player, argues with the decision.
Updated
74 mins Sinclair’s first contribution to the game is to charge down the left wing and win his side a corner. It is booted clear by Ramsey (I think).
72 mins Michael Bertin is not so sure this game is over. “Are you not familiar with Arsenal Football Club? Cf: Anderlecht, Newcastle, etc.” Ah yes, but all of them are better than this Villa side, no?
70 mins Gil takes down Cazorla, near the corner flag on the left. A yellow card and a free-kick are awarded. Cazorla it is who takes and he finds Giroud in the box. The striker’s header finds the bar. Meanwhile, a double substitution for Arsenal. Walcott and Giroud go, Akpom and Rosicky come.
68 mins That might be the most anonymous performance of Cleverley’s career. Had completely forgotten he was on the pitch.
Updated
66 mins Villa make a double substitution. Agbonlahor comes on for Cleverley and Sinclair comes on for Weimann.
Another counter, another goal. Villa had been attacking for the past few moments but a corner of thiers – and some subsequent pressure – had come to nothing. Ospina gathered the ball and sent Walcott racing clear, wide on the left. He played a pass to Cazorla and continued his run. Cazorla found him and Walcott cut inside and then curled a wonderful effort past Guzan and into the bottom corner of the net.
Updated
GOAL! Arsenal 3-0 Aston Villa (Walcott)
Game. Over.
Updated
60 mins Lambert has sent out the subs to stretch the ‘strings and do some petty gossiping away from his ears. Looking at the Villa bench, there seems to be precious little that could change this game around for them.
58 mins While all that was being typed, the game got its first yellow card. Clark it was, for a nasty one on Walcott.
Arsenal, Giroud to be exact, wins the ball on the half-way line. Despite the presence of of plenty of Villa players, he canters forward and then slices open the opposition defence with a great through-ball, finding Özil’s run from wide on the left. The German then pokes it past the on-rushing Guzan and into the net.
4 - All four of the goals Mesut Özil has been involved in this PL season have been against Aston Villa (two goals, two assists). Villain.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 1, 2015
Updated
GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Aston Villa (Özil)
Roles reversed.
Updated
54 mins Villa continue their pressure on the Arsenal defence ands win a series of throws on the right-hand side, deep in the Gunners half. Arsenal eventually push them back, rob the ball and counter. Some brilliance from Cazorla sees Arsenal do some attacking of their own. He feeds Özil but he fails to feed Ramsey and his weak pass on the edge of the area sees Villa regain possession once more.
Updated
52 mins Anyone out there?
50 mins Arsenal get back to that intricate passing thing they do and after a triangle or two, Giroud finds Monreal. He swings one into the box but it sails over everyone’s head by a considerable distance. Speaking of swinging one over. Richardson has done just that for Benteke but the forward can only nod his effort wide of the post.
48 mins Villa have started brightly here. It’s only the opening minutes I know, but they are taking control of the ball and looking to attack with some intent.
46 mins Villa get an early attack by working the ball down the left. Benteke set up Delph – I think – who then returns the favour via a flick from Weimann. Benteke shoots. Benteke shoots wide.
45 mins And we are back. No changes for either side just yet. Villa get us going. They play left to right for the duration of this half.
Half-time: Arsenal 1-0 Aston Villa
That’s your lot for now. Back in a few minutes.
45 mins Gil is taken down 10 yards outside the box by a wild enough tackle from Coquelin. Koscielny converts the free-kick into a corner. Arsenal deal with that.
Updated
43 mins There could’ve been a goal at either end just now. On the right, Gil sent in Villa’s best cross of the day and Weimann stole in front of the Arsenal defence to glance a header in the direction of the goal, forcing Ospina in to a good save. (A save that was spilled and cleared by Bellerín.) Moments later, Arsenal countered with speed. Walcott was set free by Giroud and he put the head down and aimed for the goal. However, a superb recovery tackle from Clark stopped him in his tracks. Walcott, understandably, is looking a bit rusty today.
Updated
40 mins An Arsenal free-kick – given away for a Sánchez hand ball – is sent into the Villa box. Giroud and Okore challenge for it. The striker comes off worse and is down getting some treatment from the magic sponge on what looks like a dead leg.
Updated
38 mins Monreal charges down the wing before cutting inside and finding Giroud. Arsenal tippy-tap their way to the other side before cutting inside and playing the ball to Coquelin via Cazorla. He looks up and sees Walcott in space. He finds him with the outside of his boot but he also finds the winger in an offside position.
Updated
36 mins Ramsey gets time and space on the edge of the Villa box. He hits a rasper with his right that has Guzan scrambling. Moments later Arsenal win a corner. Cazorla aims for Mertesacker but the defender can only head it down and Delph swipes it clear.
Updated
34 mins The camera has panned to Lambert. Totally stone-faced. Has he ever smiled?
Updated
32 mins Villa try to attack down the left. It comes to nothing so they try the other side. Once again it comes to nothing. So they try the centre. This works much better. They even get the ball in the box this time but Arsenal are able to cope with Benteke well enough.
Updated
30 mins Arsenal have the ball in the net but it won’t count. Some intricate play from Cazorla and Özil sees the German play a one-two before being put through on goal. He puts it past Guzan and about an hour later the whistle goes for offside against Cazorla. It was right. Just about.
28 mins Some filler from Mark Taylor: “How about you change the colours of the “won, drawn, lost” blobs? I know I’ve got rubbish eyesight, but the green and the grey are too similar.” That is beyond my remit I am afraid.
26 mins Villa win a corner. Gil’s effort lands in the hands of Ospina. He might as well have handed it to him on a silver plate along with a pack of After Eights. Immediately after that Arsenal counter with purpose. Cazorla and Giroud combine with the Frenchman sending the Spaniard in the direction of the Villa goal. Cazorla holds off Okore and then curls one off the post.
Updated
24 mins Sánchez plays one long looking for Weimann out wide on the right. Monreal deals with it by taking Weimann one way and then back-heeling the ball to Koscielny just outside his own box. That is how confident this Arsenal defence is against Villa.
22 mins Just saw a replay of the goal. Once again, Villa’s defence was far, far, far too high. Who thinks playing a high line against Arsenal is a good idea? And that flick from Özil. Mamma mia! And yes, this is all filler text because nothing is happening in the game right now. Send your filler text to the usual address.
20 mins Villa have now gone nine hours without a Premier League goal. None this month. And none in October either, if I am not mistaken.
18 mins Arsenal keep on attacking. They win a corner. And another. The second is played short to Walcott. He then plays it long to the back post. Koscielny heads it back across the goal and Clark is forced to clear it from under the bar for another corner. Guzan takes charge of that one.
16 mins Arsenal counter. Özil gets the ball, in between the corner flag on the left and Guzan’s goal. He should hit it low and hard across the box as there are plenty of red-clad players in the box. Instead he floats one in to the edge of the area and the power of the Villa defence deals with it easily enough.
14 mins Coquelin does not get the ball but he does get Gil and that leaves Villa with a free-kick near the right-hand corner of the Arsenal box. Gil it is who stands over it but his effort fails to get past the first man. Villa keep the pressure on though and win a corner. Can they do anything with that? They can indeed. A foul on Koscielny.
Updated
12 mins While all that was being typed, Arsenal had a couple of chances on goal and though Villa managed to survive them, they looked a bit shell-shocked here.
Giroud’s name will go on the scoresheet but this goal was all about Özil. Arsenal won the ball from Villa deep in their own half. Mertesacker – I think – launched it long in the direction of the German. This is where the goal gets speical. Özil just flicked the ball first time with the outside of his boot over the Villa defence and into the path of Giroud. He stumbled a bit on his run to goal and scuffed his effort but managed to put it past Guzan from close range. Just about.
Updated
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Aston Villa (Giroud)
The perfect start for Arsenal.
Updated
6 mins Arsenal do some of that neat, fleet of foot work that they are so good at, down the left-hand side. It ends with Monreal breaking into the box but his route is blocked and so he feeds the ball to Ramsey. The Welsh midfielder looks up and tries to beat Guzan from about 25 yards out. His shot goes wide.
4 mins Did you see that Özil video by the way? So awkward.
2 mins Arsenal get an early attack, with Walcott being picked out by Ramsey after the Aston Villa defence finds itself higher than the average junkie. His pace looks to have him through on goal but his shot on the edge of the area is blocked by Okore and runs out for a corner. It comes to nothing.
Updated
1 min And it is off we trot. The home side get us going. They will play the first half in a left-right fashion. It looks nice and sunny in north London but you can be assured that there is a fierce cold wind, whipping its way across the Highbury region.
The teams emerge from their respective tunnels. Arsenal are decked in their traditional Christmas red, while Aston Villa are in their snow white, a jersey that is a fair bit better than previous Aston Villa attempts at an away jersey. They suck up some snots, they pretend to be interested in shaking hands and wishing each other luck and its off to their starting positions they go. Kick-off is just moments away.
From our man in the ground:
At the Emirates for Arsenal v Aston Villa. The press room buzzing over the prospect of seeing Scott Sinclair play.
— Sachin Nakrani (@SachinNakrani) February 1, 2015
All the best Aston Villa fc today v arsenal , just got a slap in the head from me Ma who's arse..al supporter do us proud lads UTV .
— Paul McGrath (@Paulmcgrath5) February 1, 2015
Gabriel’s former team-mates at Villarreal have only praise for Arsène Wenger’s new signing and believe he will not only quickly adapt to the Premier League but also take charge of Arsenal’s defence, says Sid Lowe.
The last time Gabriel Armando de Abreu posed for a team photograph at Villarreal, he squatted down in the front row dressed all in black while everyone else wore yellow. In his hands was a ceramic yellow submarine, a memento of his time at the Madrigal. It had been brief – he was leaving less than 18 months after he had arrived from Brazil for €3.5m (£2.6m) – but he had left his mark. He said goodbye before last weekend’s match against Levante, Villarreal’s18th unbeaten, and supporters applauded him on to the field, chanting his name as he joined his now former team-mates lining up before the cameras.
There were tears. Gabriel’s voice cracked and an interview broke off. “It’s a bit difficult,” he said, swallowing hard. “That’s life: one day you’re in one place, the next you’re somewhere else.”
That somewhere else is London; Gabriel joined Arsenal for a fee that could rise to almost €19m. “It’s a bit different to [the Valencian town of] Benicàssim,” grins the Villarreal striker Denis Cheryshev after Thursday’s game against Getafe. “I’d find it hard, the weather especially, and it might be difficult at first but he’s ready and I’m sure we’ll see him playing very well, very quickly.”
If Arsène Wenger’s signing of Gabriel seemed to many to have come from nowhere, not so his team-mates. “I don’t know if you have been watching us this season,” Cheryshev says, “but we have been keeping clean sheets almost every game and those who watch him every week, those of us who train with him especially, were not surprised. He’s had a spectacular season. Gabriel going [on a big transfer] is no utopia.”
Team news
So, as expected, there is no Sánchez for Arsenal and the new man, Gabriel, is on the bench. Walcott has his first Premier League start in 13 months and he is joined by Özil, who has also been without a start in the league for quite some time now (5 October 2014 to be exact). Oxlade-Chamberlain, like Sánchez, will have to watch from the stands. Ospina continues to keep goal after smoke-in-the-shower-gate As for Aston Villa, Gil makes his league debut for a side that also sees Clark, Richardson and Weimann come in. The new boy, Sinclair, is on the bench. Those teams in full are as follows:
Arsenal: Ospina, Bellerín, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Ramsey, Walcott, Cazorla, Özil , Giroud. Subs: Szczesny, Gibbs, Gabriel, Chambers, Flamini, Rosicky, Akpom.
Aston Villa: Guzan, Hutton, Okore, Clark, Richardson, Sánchez, Delph, Cleverley, Weimann, Gil, Benteke. Subs: Given, Baker, Bacuna, Sinclair, Agbonlahor, Westwood, Cissokho.
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Updated
Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily life is but a dream. For fans of Arsenal that is, especially since that season-changing win over Dortmund in late last November. The three games before that game had seen them snatch a draw from the jaws of victory against Anderlecht; lose miserably to Swansea; and then surrender to a sub-par Manchester United side. Out came the C word – no, not that C word, the one with six letters – and so did the those who wanted Arsène Wenger locked in the stocks and have rotten tomatoes thrown at him. The but-what-have-you-done-for-me-lately brigade have been rather silent ever since Dortmund were conquered and Champions League progression was secured. And with good reason. Since then, Arsenal have played 13 games in all competitions, won 10, drawn one and lost two. Life is but a dream, sweetheart.
Danny Welbeck and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain may be missing with thigh-knack and groin-knack respectively but others like Mesut Özil and Theo Walcott have returned and look to have more spring in their step than a walking trampoline. This is especially true of the German who combined so well with the likes of Aaron Ramsey and Tomas Rosicky in the FA Cup defeat of Brighton last Sunday. Pobody’s nerfect and, of course, pot all is nerfect with the Gunners, not least Alexis Sánchez’s hamstrung hamstring that might keep him out of today’s game. “The squad will be exactly the same as last Sunday,” chirped Wenger. “The only uncertainty we have is Alexis Sánchez, who has a hamstring concern, and that will be decided on Saturday. He might be out for Sunday.” One who will definitely be in is the shiny new defender, Gabriel Paulista. And boy doesn’t he look happy to have joined the club?
One person who could give Gabriel a run for his money in the not cracking a smile stakes is Paul Lambert. Lambert would not give an eff if Woody (“... we laughed over that and Gertrude Stein punched me in the mouth”) Allen, Chris (“ ... even in our finest hour, we had a crack-head on stage”) Rock and Bill (“I go to dance clubs ... about once a year just to justify the other 364 days I spend in my apartment going ‘God, what idiots!”) Hicks were on stage cracking wise and the fate of the world rested on him curving the corners of his mouth upwards, he ain’t cracking a smile no how. He has a point though. With the exception of their recent FA Cup games, Villa have won just twice since they last faced (and lost to) Arsenal in the September gone. That’s two wins in 17 games. That ain’t cool no how.
And it’s not like you need to be a Nasa scientist to work out where the problem is. It certainly ain’t the defence. That’s decent, very decent. Before the weekend’s matches, they had conceded the same amount as Arsenal and fewer than many top-of-the-table sides. Maybe take a peek at that goals-for column in the table and Google a few stats instead. There you should find that Lambert’s side have gone through eight hours and 42 minutes of Premier League football since last locating the net. That’s a run of five games without a goal. They have managed 60 shots on target this season and that is far fewer than any other team in the entire world division. All of which has help them limp into 16th spot, just three points above the relegation zone.
But the bad news (or good news, depending on your perspective dear Villa fans) is that the Scot ain’t going nowhere right now, especially not the dole office. “When things aren’t going well, fans bay for that type of blood,” said Villa’s chief suit, Tom Fox, the other day. “That’s not the way that I or the owner are going to make a decision. It’s a false narrative.” And maybe he and old Randy – for it was Randy speaking through him – has a point. Maybe managers need more time when things are not working. Maybe he is with the Darragh MacAnthony school of thought and they are “P...d off it is always the manager who is held responsible when a team fold like a stack of cards when the going gets tough.” In good news – and this can only be good news – Carles Gil looks good so far and Fabian Delph, much to the shock of his team-mates, has signed a new deal. Maybe the positivity from all that will mix with positivity of the Cup victories and Villa will turn their season around with a win, just like Arsenal did against Dortmund that time.
Stayed tuned to see if that happens as well as team news, which should be with us presently. Woop! Woop!
Updated
