No word from Mikel Arteta. He’s probably in the dressing room reading Nick Ames’ match report, which has just landed. Thanks for reading this MBM!
A quietly content Dean Smith talks to BT Sport. “I said to them at the start that we’d got away on Wednesday from being a good team. The values of being a good team, the work ethic, being a good team-mate, I thought we saw that in bundles today against a really good offensive team. We started with a good intensity that set us up really well. It had to be a good defensive performance, but their keeper had to make some really good saves as well. You have to win your battles to allow yourself to play. Martinez was disappointed on Wednesday having made a mistake, but he certainly didn’t make any today. That’s 11 clean sheets, the most we’ve had for a long time, and when he’s called upon he makes good saves.”
The marvellous Ollie Watkins, today’s match-winner, speaks to BT. “It’s a big result. We’ve played some good stuff but we haven’t got the results we wanted at home, so delighted with that today. It was hard, we grinded it out. A bit of confusion at the back for them. I’ve hit it with my left foot, I think it’s come off their defender and gone in, but I’ll take that! We were a bit off it against West Ham and they punished it. We needed a big reaction and we showed it. We will just focus on the next game, as cliched as it sounds, because Europe is a long way away. Hopefully we’ll see where we are at the end of the season.”
Updated
Dean Smith and Villa celebrate accordingly. They rise to eighth in the Premier League, on 35 points; Arsenal are stuck in tenth, on 31. Mikel Arteta isn’t happy with the referee, again, presumably as a result of the early Konsa challenge on Saka and the Lacazette-Martinez scuffle, and makes his feelings known.
Updated
FULL TIME: Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal
Like he’ll care! The whistle goes soon after the restart, and Villa have secured their first league double over Arsenal since 1993!
90 min +5: One last chance for Arsenal coming up. Pepe is sent scampering down the right and wins a corner. Odegaard takes. Villa half-clear. Grealish goes down clutching his head, with Willian nearby. There wasn’t much in that. Grealish claims there was, and talks himself into the book.
90 min +4: Grealish again, working his way down the left. Slowly, slowly, with clock management in mind. He draws a cynical foul from Xhaka, who is rightfully booked.
90 min +3: Pepe probes down the right, but Grealish does a captain’s job, nipping in to intercept and clear with some panache.
90 min +2: Another Saka cross from the left. It rears up off the turf, shocking Odegaard on the right-hand edge of the six-yard box. He doesn’t get a head on it, and Martinez claims. Brave keeping, because he takes another whack, from Odegaard’s desperately flailing boot.
90 min +1: Saka crosses from the left. Deflected. It looks like heading out for a corner, but Cash doesn’t give it up and hooks clear.
90 min: On BT Sport, Martin Keown gives the man-of-the-match award to Mings. All of the Villa defenders have been excellent, though. Can they hold out for the extra five minutes coming up?
89 min: Ramsey channels his inner Grealish, the youngster sashaying down the inside-left channel and aiming a curler towards the top right. Not quite enough on it. An easy claim for Ryan.
88 min: Arsenal stroke it around, to little effect. Xhaka tries to force the issue, but his long ball into the Villa box is easy meat for Martinez.
86 min: Watkins robs Holding and drives forward. He combines with Grealish, then curls for the bottom right. Ryan’s strong arm keeps it out. The ball loops up, and there’s a spot of head tennis between Gabriel and Trezeguet. Arsenal do just enough to keep it out.
Updated
84 min: ... and they nearly pay for not taking them, Saka dribbling down the left and cutting back for Odegaard, who fires a shot over the bar from the edge of the box. Too much power. He should have at least worked Martinez.
83 min: Odegaard gifts the ball to Grealish, who dances down the middle and slips Watkins in down the inside-left channel. Watkins threads a shot across Ryan but inches wide of the right-hand post. Villa have had a couple of half-chances to put this game to bed.
81 min: A lovely replay of Dean Smith’s reaction to Barkley’s tantrum. A brief sideways look of undisguised contempt. He’ll have a wee word afterwards, I’ll be bound.
79 min: From the restart, Grealish is found in the Arsenal box, just to the left of centre. He goes for the top right. Ryan extends to push away spectacularly. A huge save to keep Arsenal in the game!
Updated
78 min: Before play restarts, Barkley is replaced by Ramsey, and throws a hissy fit en route to the bench. A hoof of the old water bottle. Now now.
77 min: Xhaka pointlessly barges Grealish in the back, and it’s a free kick in the centre circle. More importantly, it’s a chance for Villa to take a breather, and run down the clock a little.
76 min: Pepe waltzes down the left and nearly gets the better of Cash, but the Villa full-back sticks to his man and eventually the ball’s run out for a goal kick.
75 min: The corner. Some head tennis. A couple of tussles. Villa eventually manage to clear, but Arsenal are throwing everything at this. Can the hosts hold out? It might be a long 15 minutes.
74 min: Partey’s over. He can’t continue. Willian comes on in his place.
73 min: Odegaard gets in on the fun down the Arsenal left. He earns a corner. But before it can be taken, the physio rushes on to deal with Partey, who is down clutching his thigh.
72 min: Pepe and Saka are causing all manner of bother down the left flank. They nearly open Villa up again, drawing some pretty triangles, but the home defence does just enough.
71 min: Odegaard slides a clever pass down the inside-right channel, nearly releasing Smith-Rowe. Targett slides in. Smith-Rowe manages to toe-poke it away, but the presence of the defender means he blooters it out for a goal kick.
69 min: Pepe has a dig from a tight angle on the left. Martinez is taken a little bit by surprise, but still manages to kick away while falling backwards. Arsenal are asking all the questions at the minute.
67 min: Saka dinks in from the left. Aubameyang rises and eyebrows harmlessly wide right, the ball a little too high. He should probably have left that for Smith-Rowe, coming in behind him, but strikers have to do what they have to do.
66 min: While Martinez was being patched up, both sides make a swap. Odegaard comes on for Cedric, while Traore makes way for Trezeguet.
65 min: Saka blooters the ball straight in Grealish’s face from a couple of yards. Grealish stays on his feet like a good boxer. No glass jaw on the Villa captain. Martinez is also in the wars, bravely blocking a low Pepe cross from the left, under pressure from Aubameyang and his own man Mings. A boot in the mush, but he’ll be good to go after some running repairs.
63 min: Watkins, Grealish, Traore and Cash clip the ball around nicely, out on the right. Suddenly Cash barges his way into the Arsenal box. For a second, space to shoot opens up, but Pepe tracks back brilliantly to shoulder Targett out of the road and clear. Great football all round.
61 min: Nice and sunny now at Villa Park. The weather had been a bit grim earlier.
59 min: That’s Lacazette’s last contribution. He’s replaced by Aubameyang, and not super-happy about it. He may have wanted a penalty for that incident, Martinez having taken hold of his shirt as the pair came together.
Updated
58 min: Saka sends a glorious corner through the six-yard box. Nobody manages to trundle it in, and out it goes for a goal kick. Ah no, it’s a free kick, Lacazette barging into Martinez.
57 min: Bellerin slips Saka into space down the right. Saka creams one towards the top right. Targett slides in to block out for a corner. Arsenal are turning the screw a little.
55 min: A lovely open feel to this. McGinn sends a low rasp towards the bottom right; it’s parried by Ryan. Up the other end, Smith-Rowe nearly Gazzas his way clear into the Villa box down the middle, but Mings comes across to block just in time.
Updated
54 min: Incidentally, Partey has just been booked for that challenge on Nakamba. There really wasn’t much in it, so should he pick up a second yellow, expect to see industrial quantities of steam rising from the Arsenal dugout.
53 min: Pepe jinks down the left, breezes into the Villa box, and curls a low shot inches wide of the bottom right. That was so close. He’s beginning to find some hot form after a slow start to his Arsenal career.
52 min: Villa muck up a three-on-two break. Grealish has Watkins to his right and Barkley to his left. Uncharacteristically, he chooses the wrong option. Watkins was totally free; Barkley is under a bit of pressure. Barkley blazes a shot from a tight-ish angle into the side netting. Poor all round.
50 min: Partey clatters into Nakamba. The ref allows play to go on, as Villa stream forward. Watkins creams a shot towards the bottom left; Ryan parries well. Villa come again, Watkins winning a header near the right-hand post. It’s soft and easy for Ryan.
48 min: Villa work a training-ground corner that gives Barkley opportunity to shoot from 15 yards. He can’t connect properly, and it’s an easy claim for Ryan.
47 min: A gorgeous shuffle near the left-hand corner flag by Barkley. He conjures space out of nothing and crosses deep. Traore wins a corner on the other side.
Updated
46 min: Saka eats up the turf down the right, but he can’t find any of the blue shirts in the middle. Early signs that Arsenal have been given the proverbial half-time rocket.
Villa get the second half underway. No changes. The home side are attacking the Holte End.
Updated
Half-time advertisement. Fulham v West Ham MBM coming up later today! Allow Jacob Steinberg to get the juices flowing.
HALF TIME: Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal
Arsenal have done the majority of the attacking; Villa have the lead thanks to Olly Watkins’ early goal, his 12th of the season. Poised nicely, as they say. “It’s a weird place to be for a Villa fan,” begins Jimesy. “Almost thinking a win against Arsenal was possible (or even probable?) again, given our last game and relative table positions. What a change of perception a couple of years has given us. Watkins has been a real find but Martinez is the truly the great signing - aside from the West Ham game he’s been excellent this season, so confident. Heady days indeed. Given we just missed out on relegation, it’s happy days even if we go on to lose this one.”
45 min +2: Bellerin shoves Grealish in the back, the Villa maestro tumbling to the floor. No free kick, which is an odd decision. Grealish queries the matter in the abrupt debating style, and is given as good as he gets from the ref. No booking, though.
45 min +1: Nothing much happens in the first one.
45 min: There will be three added minutes.
43 min: The free kick’s taken and easily cleared, but Arsenal come back quickly, finding Pepe just inside the box on the right. He takes one shot. Bang, straight at Targett. He tries again, whistling this one well wide right. He should have done better; that was a very decent opportunity.
Updated
42 min: Arsenal free kick deep on the right. Everyone lines up on the edge of the box. Cedric takes. Traore charges it down, turning his back, but the ball hits the top of his arm and it’s another free kick, ten yards closer to the goal.
41 min: Pepe takes on Cash again, dropping a shoulder and foxing him this time. He reaches the byline and belts low and hard towards the near post. Martinez gathers.
40 min: A proper lull this time. Nothing’s going on.
38 min: A long ball down the Arsenal left. Pepe battles under it with Cash. The Villa defender just about manages to hold off the in-form Arsenal winger, and Martinez races off his line to claim. A decent tussle.
37 min: Something of a lull, albeit one during which both teams ping it around in a pleasant manner.
35 min: Play continues awhile, but when the ball finally goes out of play, Nakamba becomes the second Villa player to go into the book.
34 min: Nakamba crunches into Saka, who is beginning to feel that this is personal.
33 min: Nothing comes of the resulting free kick. A non-event.
32 min: Konsa is booked for cynically bringing down Saka, who was preparing to tear into space down the right. Arsenal want a red, but neither referee nor VAR show any interest in that. For the record, Targett was up with play and covering in the middle.
30 min: From the corner, Saka swings in for Holding, whose header is harmless. Villa go up the other end, and Traore nearly scores one of the goals of the season. He’s found by Barkley, and spins between Cedric and Holding. He’s free in the box! Traore goes for the scoop over the keeper. Ryan claws away. Barkley tries to follow up, but his shot is blocked. That would have been one hell of a goal. What a turn!
Updated
29 min: Grealish clips Saka, 25 yards out, just to the right of centre. Xhaka takes, curling a gorgeous free kick towards the top right. It’s right on the postage stamp, but Martinez, at full stretch, fingertips around the post for a corner. That’s sensational football all round, and a save for the Martinez scrapbook.
27 min: Xhaka fizzes a pass down the left channel for Pepe, whose shot takes a deflection off a Villa leg and loops towards the top left. Martinez claims well, right on his line, doing very well not to carry it over.
26 min: More faffing between Cedric and Gabriel, and Watkins very nearly nips off with the ball. But the Villa striker clumsily fouls Gabriel. Arsenal get away with it, but they’ve learned no lessons from the goal, it would seem.
25 min: Grealish twists and teases down the left, eventually releasing Targett on the overlap with a backheel. Targett’s low cross is sliced out of play by Holding for a corner. Grealish takes; Ryan punches away confidently. This is good end-to-end fun.
23 min: Some space for Saka down the right. He’s got options in the box, but slams the ball straight into Nakamba and has to settle for a corner. Saka takes himself, but it’s a hopeless delivery, flying miles over everyone’s head and out for a goal kick.
21 min: Lacazette wedges a cute ball down the inside-right channel, hoping to set up Saka, but there’s a bit too much weight on the pass and Martinez is able to smother.
Updated
20 min: Cash curls high from the right. Watkins is winding back his neck with the hope of heading home from eight yards, but Gabriel has read the danger and makes a crucial clearance.
18 min: Lacazette drives down the middle of the park. He’s got Pepe to one side, Saka free on the other. He tries to release Saka down the right, but Mings reads the play smartly and intercepts. That’s a goal-saving intervention, because Villa were extremely light at the back, and had Lacazette picked the pass, Arsenal would have been away.
16 min: Saka takes on McGinn down the right. He’s stripped of possession, and McGinn is this close to finding Watkins down the left with a long pass. Bellerin intercepts. Both teams are going for this. A few goals wouldn’t be the worst start to the weekend.
14 min: Grealish, surrounded by blue shirts, makes a slippery run into the Arsenal box from the left and wins Villa’s first corner of the afternoon. Grealish takes himself. It’s fired towards the near post, where Saka wallops clear.
13 min: Arsenal have enjoyed 74 percent of possession up to this point. But here we are. It is what it is.
12 min: Troare clatters into Xhaka out on the Arsenal left, and it’s a chance to load the box. The free kick isn’t sent straight into the mixer, switched instead to the right, where Bellerin awaits. He swings it in from there, but it’s easily cleared by Villa.
10 min: Now Pepe’s down clutching his head. He should be fine, having simply taken the ball flush on the beak. A quick grimace, the sting subsides, and he’s up and running again.
9 min: Nope. The medical staff have given both players the once-over, and they’re good to go again.
8 min: Konsa and Lacazette clash heads, so could we see the first concussion substitute in the long history of English top-flight football?
7 min: Arsenal are certainly seeing more of the ball in these early exchanges. They’ll be happy enough with their start, with one rather obvious exception.
5 min: Arsenal stream forward again. Lacazette scoops a pass down the inside-left channel for Smith-Rowe, who enters the Villa box and cuts back, hoping to find Pepe. He doesn’t, though, and the ball is eventually ushered out for a goal kick. What a lovely open start to this game.
4 min: Arsenal come straight back at Villa, winning a corner out on the right. It’s swung in deep. Gabriel gets a head on it at the far stick, but there’s neither power nor direction and the hosts clear.
GOAL! Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal (Watkins 2)
Cedric plays a weak ball backwards towards Gabriel. Traore nips in down the right, enters the box, and pulls back for Watkins, who pokes into the bottom left. What a start for Villa! What an awful start to Ryan’s Arsenal career, a boyhood fan and all.
Updated
1 min: A nice brisk start on a brisk afternoon. Villa ping it around with purpose, Grealish and Watkins nearly opening Arsenal up down the left. Then ...
Arsenal get the party started ... but only after everyone takes the knee. There’s no room for racism. Kick it out.
The teams are out! Villa wear their grand old claret, while Arsenal are in third-choice blue. We’ll be off before you know it. In the meantime, here’s Charles Antaki on his linguistic millennium bugbear: “According to my extensive research (a 20-second check on Google Ngrams) the phrase ‘it is what it is’ took off more or less exactly on January 1st, 2000. Mikel Arteta, symbol of the 21st century.”
Pre-match entertainment.
Dean Smith seems pretty cheery, though. “People keep talking about a bad run of results, but we’ve won two of the last four, so it’s not that bad. People keep jumping on the Liverpool FA Cup game, so I keep saying I’ll add a few under-18 results where we’ve won as well onto that! We feel we’re OK. We didn’t play well on Wednesday night but we usually bounce back well. We’ve freshened it up.”
Mikel Arteta isn’t happy that David Luiz’s red card wasn’t rescinded. “It is what it is. We did what we had to do after the Wolves game, we put our case together and hoped the decision was going to be overturned. It wasn’t, surprisingly, seeing the Southampton boy got away with it. We have to accept it.” As for leaving Aubameyang on the bench? “I felt the players who played against Wolves deserved another chance today.”
Hopefully we won’t need to go down this road, but concussion substitutes are being used for the first time today, as part of a trial that will run for the rest of the season. Two permanent substitutions can now be made in the event of head injuries, even if all replacements have already been used. Should any concussion substitute be made, the opposing team will be allowed to make the equivalent number of changes.
Aston Villa, ninth, make two changes to the side that went down 3-1 at home to West Ham. Douglas Luiz and Anwar El Ghazi make way for Bertrand Traore and Marvelous Nakamba.
Arsenal, tenth, make two enforced changes in the wake of the Wolves fiasco. Bernd Leno and David Luiz are both suspended as a result of the red cards they picked up at Molineux. That hands a debut to Mat Ryan in goal, while Gabriel fills in at the back. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is on the bench again.
Updated
The teams
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett, Nakamba, McGinn, Traore, Barkley, Grealish, Watkins.
Subs: Heaton, Douglas Luiz, Trezeguet, El Ghazi, Engels, Sanson, Elmohamady, Davis, Ramsey.
Arsenal: Ryan, Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Cedric, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Smith-Rowe, Pepe, Lacazette.
Subs: Ceballos, Odegaard, Willian, Runarsson, Aubameyang, Chambers, Pablo Mari, Elneny, Martinelli.
Referee: Chris Kavanagh (Lancashire).
Updated
Preamble
Aston Villa did a proper number on Arsenal back in November. A 3-0 win at the Emirates that Dean Smith felt “was as good” as their famous 7-2 evisceration of Liverpool. Mikel Arteta by contrast described his listless side’s defeat as the worst of his short managerial career.
Times change, and at speed this season. While Villa were flying back then, they’re now on a stickier run, having lost four of their last six. Arsenal by contrast have recovered from those dark days when there were some slightly hysterical whispers about a relegation scrap. They’re much improved, although they’re coming off the back of defeat at Wolves and have only won two of their last five.
In other words, we’re dealing with two inconsistent but entertaining and (generally) upwardly mobile teams. Villa could complete their first league double over the Gunners since 1993, though February is rarely good to them: they’ve lost 16 of their last 18 Premier League fixtures during this month. So both teams have their reasons for fancying this. It’s on!
Kick off: 12.30pm GMT.
