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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Rich Jones

Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal: 6 talking points as lacklustre Gunners beaten at Villa Park

Mikel Arteta's Arsenal were brought back down to earth with a lacklustre display against Aston Villa.

After beating Manchester City and Liverpool in the past week, the Gunners were undone by relegation-threatened Villa, who claimed a huge win to boost their survival hopes.

Trezeguet's first-half strike proved the difference as Arsenal's hopes of securing European football via the Premier League were ended at Villa Park.

They will now face added pressure in their FA Cup final clash with Chelsea in a bid to secure a place in the Europa League as they gave manager Arteta another reminder as to the magnitude of the task in hand.

Here are six talking points from a tough night for the Gunners in Birmingham.

Mikel Arteta's side were given another eye-opener with a tough evening against Aston Villa (2020 Pool)

1) Set piece struggles

Arsenal's problems defensively are well-known - but they are still not being addressed.

A set piece again caused carnage in the Arsenal box, with the ball eventually falling to Trezeguet to fire in Aston Villa's opener.

The Gunners have now conceded 21 goals via set pieces this season.

Arsenal's problems defending set pieces continued (Peter Powell/NMC/Pool/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

That accounts for 46% of the goals they have shipped in during Premier League fixtures - comfortably the worst ratio in the league.

They must address that problem if Mikel Arteta is to turn things around next season.

2) Saka shifted back

Bukayo Saka has been moved further forward by Mikel Arteta since the Premier League restart.

The youngster, who recently signed a new long-term deal, has largely featured on the left-wing and impressed.

But a move back to a back five saw him again deployed as a left wing-back, the position where he made his breakthrough earlier this season.

Bukayo Saka was shifted back to the left wing-back role (Getty Images)

He was solid defensively and keen to get forward to support in attack, offering a different dimension to Kieran Tierney, who dropped down to the bench after some impressive recent performances.

But Tierney was introduced after an hour, replacing Saka as Arsenal moved to four at the back in a bid to get back into the game.

3) Xhaka's importance

Arsenal were unable to get going in the first half.

The lack of supply to their front three was telling as Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Eddie Nketiah made up the three players with the least touches in the first 45 minutes.

Lucas Torreira returned to the side alongside Dani Ceballos in midfield.

Granit Xhaka's value to Arsenal is becoming increasingly clear (Kevin Quigley/The Daily Mail)

But with Granit Xhaka on the bench, Arsenal's midfield struggled to dictate the tempo and feed their attacking talent.

Xhaka replaced Torreira at the break, and he helped Arsenal get much more control of the game as they chased an equaliser in the second half.

4) Spotlight on Cedric

Cedric Soares was a surprised signing for Arsenal in January.

Even more eyebrows were raised when he was handed a permanent deal before playing a game.

Cedric was slow to try and block Trezeguet's goal (Getty Images)

The jury is still out on the former Southampton full-back, and he did not help his case with his part in Villa's opening goal.

He was slow and hesitant to rush out and attempt to block Trezeguet's shot.

As a result, the Villa man was able to fire the ball past him and beyond Emiliano Martinez into the bottom corner leaving the Gunners up against it.

5) Pepe's spark

Nicolas Pepe is very much a work in progress - but he still brings qualities that his Arsenal team-mates lack.

Without Pepe in the starting line-up, they lacked a spark and someone willing to take the game by the scruff of the neck to run at players.

Whilst the likes of Aubameyang, Lacazette and Nketiah bring technical class, they lack Pepe's willingness to run at their man.

His introduction added a new dimension to Arsenal's attack and saw them look a much more dangerous side as a result.

Nicolas Pepe is raw but brings Arsenal an added spark in attack (2020 Pool)

6) Ozil left out again

Mesut Ozil has not played a game since the Premier League resumed.

But Mikel Arteta opened the door for him to return against Aston Villa and it seemed he might finally be brought in from the cold.

When the teams came out, however, that was not the case.

After training with the team this week, the German playmaker was snubbed again, as was the out of favour Matteo Guendouzi.

With just one Premier League game remaining, it is looking increasingly doubtful that Ozil will feature for Arsenal again.

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