Aston Villa’s difficult start to the season continued with a second successive Premier League defeat, as Arsenal won at Villa Park after Unai Emery’s side had already lost to Brighton in the opening league round. The result followed their UEFA Super Cup final defeat by Paris Saint-Germain, leaving the Birmingham club without a victory in their first three competitive games of the campaign.
The outcome was predictable to some extent after Villa lost several of their key players, but their performance against the reigning champions highlighted a number of individual shortcomings. The assessment below examines who was responsible for Arsenal’s goal, why Villa failed to score and which players still helped the hosts produce anything useful in the match.
The maximum possible mark was 10, with every player starting on a rating of 6.0.
Aston Villa player ratings
Alejandro Garnacho – 3.0
Abraham could also have occupied this position after touching the ball only once in more than 20 minutes as a substitute. However, Alejandro Garnacho did little to improve Villa’s attacking threat after coming on.
Garnacho made three sprinting runs at Ben White, but each time he chose to pass backwards instead of delivering a cross or attempting to play the ball into the area. That was a major issue for Villa, who were behind and needed to find an equaliser. The young forward’s involvement was therefore limited, while the service to Abraham was almost non-existent.
George Hemmings – 3.0
George Hemmings failed to take advantage of the opportunities offered to him by his direct opponent, Ben White, on the flank. His accurate passing was largely limited to short balls, and even those were not consistently reliable.
Hemmings also struggled in the physical contests. He lost seven of 10 challenges and was unsuccessful in both of his attempted tackles. His performance provided little defensive security and did not give Villa enough quality in possession on the wing.
John McGinn – 3.0
John McGinn was unable to create serious problems for Riccardo Calafiori on the right side. He attempted six long passes into Arsenal’s penalty area, but none produced a meaningful result.
McGinn also failed to test the target with his efforts from distance and occasionally surrendered possession close to his own box. His frustration eventually showed in a series of reckless fouls, and he was booked as a result.
Ian Maatsen – 2.0
Ian Maatsen was judged to have repeatedly moved Villa closer to conceding. Even a VAR intervention initially appeared to work against him when a penalty was awarded after a challenge on Bukayo Saka, only for the decision to be overturned because the foul had taken place outside the penalty area.
Maatsen was unable to contain Saka, who escaped his attention before Riccardo Calafiori delivered the decisive cross. Having recognised the damage caused by the mistake, Maatsen then surged forward in an attempt to win a penalty for Villa at the other end, but without success.
His own execution was also poor: both of his shots missed the target, while all three of his dribble attempts failed. Maatsen committed five fouls, was dribbled past twice and lost 10 of his 13 duels.
The wider review also noted that Lionel Messi’s efficiency was low by his own standards, while Casemiro found it difficult to compensate for the work of ineffective defenders. Despite those shortcomings, the “herons” still managed to cling to something useful from the match, although the outcome ultimately provided Arsenal with another victory and Villa with further evidence of their early-season problems.
