Villa vanquish lacklustre Arsenal

O'Neill's impressive charges dent Gunners' title hopes

By James Dall   Last updated: 15th November 2008

Agbonlahor Gabriel Arsenalv Aston Villa

Agbonlahor: A constant menace

Man of the match:
A tough call, but Gabriel Agbonlahor lands the accolade after he was a constant thorn in Arsenal's side. Blistering pace, topped with an excellent goal.

Moment of the match:
Manuel Almunia's penalty save from Ashley Young's effort could have knocked the confidence out of Villa.

Goal of the game:
Agbonlahor's powerful run to hold off William Gallas and strike with aplomb was well taken.

Save of the match:
Almunia made a top block as Gareth Barry looked to open the scoring from inside the penalty area in the first half.

Talking point:
Are Arsenal's title hopes over and can Villa break into the 'big four'?

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An own goal from Gael Clichy and a strike from Gabriel Agbonlahor handed Aston Villa a deserved 2-0 triumph over Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

Villa impressed throughout the encounter and were handed a golden opportunity to break the deadlock in the first half when Ashley Young was felled by Theo Walcott in the penalty area.

Young, however, saw his spot-kick saved by Manuel Almunia, but Martin O'Neill's troops were rewarded for their endeavour on 70 minutes when Clichy headed a dangerous cross past his own goalkeeper.

The Gunners looked unconvincing in their search for a leveller, and Villa wrapped up the result in the 80th minute as Agbonlahor raced onto a deep clearance to fire home and seal the visitors' first win over their opponents in 20 attempts.

Title challenge

The result cancelled out Arsenal's good work of last week when they beat Manchester United, and the club's Carling Cup stars may now be breathing down the necks of the current team following the type of defeat which has undermined the Gunners' recent title challenges.

Villa were played off the park by Chelsea during their last trip to London but there was no repeat and they should have gone into the interval ahead, regardless of Young's miss from the spot.

Arsenal's passing was sloppy and their attack lacked an edge while they had Nicklas Bendtner up front on his own, with Emmanuel Adebayor only on the bench after recovering from an ankle injury.

Carlos Vela and Aaron Ramsey were among the substitutes but there was no room for the precocious talent of Jack Wilshere. His time may be coming sooner than expected.

Wenger used his programme notes to highlight the speed of Agbonlahor and Young and they caused the hosts all sorts of problems, with a warning sign coming in the opening minute when Young fired straight at Almunia.

Brad Friedel fumbled a straightforward shot from Cesc Fabregas, with Curtis Davies required to hack the ball clear as William Gallas lurked, but apart from that it was Villa dictating play.

Young missed his penalty in the 20th minute after earning the spot-kick himself.

Mikael Silvestre had cleared only as far as Young after a deep cross caused chaos, with Walcott sliding in when the Villa winger surged back in the box.

Almunia went the right way with the weak penalty but it still required a brave tackle from Gallas as Young chased the rebound.

Young may not have even been taking the penalty had Gareth Barry not been injured in the build-up, with Fabregas getting a yellow card for clattering into the England midfielder.

Threat

Villa were still taking the game to the hosts and former Arsenal trainee Steve Sidwell volleyed straight at Almunia.

Young almost atoned for his penalty miss with a drive that went just wide of Almunia's post, and he had another effort that went straight at the Arsenal goalkeeper after a mazy run.

Almunia was made to work harder when Agbonlahor pulled the ball back for Barry, the Spaniard down sharply as Villa threatened again.

Arsenal were struggling for fluency so Wenger made his move just after the hour mark, with Adebayor coming on to replace Abou Diaby.

Now playing a 4-4-2 formation, Arsenal appeared more threatening, although Wenger still looked frustrated on the touchline. Vela was the next to come on, replacing Bendtner, but it was Villa who took the lead.

Sagna was injured during the build up after falling awkwardly, with Villa raiding forward. Young crossed for Agbonlahor and the ball glanced past Almunia into his far corner as Clichy challenged.

Agbonlahor claimed it and there was no argument about the second when he chased a long ball, held off Gallas and fired home.

ArsenalTeam StatisticsAston Villa
0Goals2
01st Half Goals0
6Shots on Target6
4Shots off Target3
5Blocked Shots1
8Corners5
10Fouls23
1Offsides2
2Yellow Cards4
0Red Cards0
84.7Passing Success67.2
22Tackles30
68.2Tackles Success83.3
68.2Possession31.8
56.7Territorial Advantage43.3

Prem To Finish In Top 4 2008/09 Win Outright: Arsenal 1/2

Comments

Derek B (Arsenal fan) says...

talk about deflated, ecstatic last weekend after beating united, astounded midweek by wilshire,vela and co. and now back to the good ol unpredictable arsenal that we've come to love of late. Gallas , silvestre, denilson seriously need to be sold. Diaby is a much better alternative than denilson , any blind man can see that. and djourou and toure should be given a chance together as an alternative to silvestre and gallas( more like silvester and tweety the way they play together).Wengers all for buying the under 30s except for when it came for these two cartoon characters.We've won nothing since gallas arrived ( don't get me wrong ,I was delighted to get rid of cashley) . If we have 30million, buy mexes and another holding midfielder. Alonso should have been bought,if anything to cheer fabregas up. he looks miserable and to be honest I fear he'll be next to go. hopefully I'm wrong have to try and hang on in there until xmas and hopefully with one or two new faces we might kick off a good new year. In wenger we trust

Posted 08:27 16th November 2008

Derek Stevenson (Aston Villa fan) says...

Great to see The Villa get such a superb result at the Emirates,however only only Villa are capable of getting beat by Newcastle and Middlesboro and then go to Arsenal and win.4th is now in our grasp...keepgoing and up the Villa!

Posted 08:05 16th November 2008

Iam Arsenal (Arsenal fan) says...

2 fouls, never a penalty, Mike Riley should be reffing sunday league

Posted 07:44 16th November 2008

Ola Ola (Arsenal fan) says...

Arsenal was poor today as individuals and as a team. Wenger needs to understand the pain of the fans and buy experienced players. We need a holding midfielder and a winger. Pls Mr Wenger put a consistent smile on the fans faces.

Posted 20:23 15th November 2008

John Davis (Aston Villa fan) says...

Arsenal are a joke, we finally won here, after avoiding defeat on every visit. We should have won last season here if it wasn't for that last second equaliser. Furthermore, we should have won at Villa Park last season after a dominant second half. But we have surely made up for it today with a fantastic result. No excuses, we were too fast in our attack, the pace of Agbonlahor and Young caused too many problems to a frail Arsenal back four that United did not exploit last week. We totally dersevred the victory but lets hope that this continues and overtake Arsenal in the top four becuase we have proved today we are true challengers.

Posted 20:18 15th November 2008

John Black (Arsenal fan) says...

Bendtner - terrible , why does he play for arsenal.

Posted 19:25 15th November 2008

A Dfbd (Arsenal fan) says...

Arsenal to win the league in 2010

Posted 19:00 15th November 2008

Kieran O'reilly (Aston Villa fan) says...

Well done Aston Villa! The boys played obsolutely fantastic today with the defeat hanging over them from last week. Im so proud to be a Aston villa supporter and i think that Ashely Young will be one of the best player in the premier league in a year or two. Come on The villans.

Posted 18:40 15th November 2008

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