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“I think we played and competed and went about it for the third time in six days, to deliver that performance, that dominance and that attacking and those set-pieces, indvidually they were outstanding,” says Arsenal’s manager of his side in an interview with Sky Sports.
“Those players were absolutely dead and to perform like that for 97 minutes without looking to the bench or looking for excuses was so impressive. They just went about it and I think it’s the best game we’ve played against Villa since I’ve been here. I think the level wee are playing is so, so good but there is something missing. Today we cannot concede the kind of goals we let in.”
On the disallowed goal: “From one angle it looks [like a handball] and from the other it doesn’t. It’s difficult because you have so much emotion, you celebrate it and it’s taken away from you. It’s not easy.”
“It’s a disappointing day,” says the Arsenal winger in an interview with Sky Sports. “We wanted to win the game, but we have to keep going. We trust in ourselves, and we have to keep going and improving – it is a long journey to go. We have to focus on ourselves.
“That’s football, that’s the Premier League, the most difficult league in the world. We have to see the game and see what we have done wrong and improve for the next games. We know our qualities and we know the potential we have and we trust in ourselves.”
“We came back really well into the game,” says the scorer of Villa’s opener in a chat with the BBC. “The [first] goal gave us freedom and belief. It’s not an easy task. They were on top of us for 60 minutes. I saw the space and tried to jump into it. Good goal.
“From our point of view [a good result] is always deserved. We take the point and move forward. They had many chances but we defended with our bodies on the line. Two-all is a good result for us. First half we had a couple of counters, misplaced passes from me which could have put Ollie Watkins in. We fought really well to come back into the game. Handball is handball when it is a goal. It is what it is.”
Premier League: With his side two goals up and looking home and hosed, Arteta could only watch on in horror as Youri Tielemans pulled one back for Aston Villa before Ollie Watkins volleyed home the equaliser. Ed Aarons reports from the Emirates Stadium …
“Seeing [the handball] back there, I’m not sure … I think it’s gone in favour of us a little bit,” says the Aston Villa striker in an interview with Sky Sports. “If that had gone against us I think I would be a little disappointed. I dunno … but from that angle I’m not sure but that’s what VAR is there for.”
On Villa’s comeback: “Obviously we got the goal,” he says. “Lucas put in an unbelievable ball and Youri scored. Then we went up the pitch two minutes later and Youri nearly scored again. We got a lot of momentum from that and had a bit of faith that whenever we went forward, especially on transition because they were quite open and there were chances to be had.”
That disallowed Merino goal: Some Arsenal fans are posting clips of Arsenal’s disallowed “winner” online, claiming the ball did not hit Havertz’s hand or arm as Merino’s initial shot bounced up from the turf.
My immediate thought was that he’d handled the ball an no amount of slow-mo replays can convince me otherwise. As he tried to turn away from the ball, the ball appeared to hit his hip and then his right arm. Nobody else weems to making an issue of it, but we’ll find out what Mikel Arteta has to say in due course.
An email: “That Cash spot-on delivery to the postage stamp-sized sweet spot on Watkins’ boot was spectacularly cool!” writes Peter Oh.
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeeeep! A good game ends with Arsenal blowing a two-goal lead after goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz were cancelled out by strikes from Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins.
Mikel Merino thought he had won it for Arsenal near the end, but his effort was correctly cancelled out for striking the hand of Kai Havertz on its way past Emi Martinez.
Arsenal now sit six points behind the Premier League leaders Liverpool having played one game more. Villa leapfrog Manchester City to go seventh.
90+8 min: Odegaard’s free-kick is poor and too close to Martinez, who catches the ball. It’s all over at the Emirates, wherre Aston Villa have come from two goals down to rescue a point.
90+7 min: Lucas Digne fouls Sterling and Arsenal have a free-kick wide on the right, in line with the edge of the penalty area.
90+5 min: Morgan Rogers gets booked for dissent as Arsenal continue to turn the screw. Trossard sends a low diagonal effort just wide of the far post after running on to a beautifully weighted through ball from Myles Lewis-Skelly. Trossard might have been offside but he should have at least put the ball in the back of the net so we could find out one way or the other.
Leandro Trossard goes close! Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images/Reuters
90+4 min: Sterling loses the ball to Jhon Duran on the edge of the Villa penalty area and then fouls his fellow substitute as he tries to win it back. He gets a yellow card and more precious time for Arsenal to find a winner is wasted.
90+3 min: Tielemans sends a speculative low effort wide of the Arsenal goal.
90+2 min: We’re into seven added minutes of added time and Martinez, a master of timewasting in the Villa goal, is in no hurry whatsoever to take a goal-kick.
90+1 min: Oh my! A game of pinball in the Villa penalty area sees Merino pounce on a loose ball and smash a shot off the left post. Havertz is unable to score on the follow-up.
Ouch! Following a VAR consultation, Merino’s effort is correctly disallowed because it hit Havertz’s hand on its way past Raya. Rice provided the cross, the ball was headed towards Merino and unfortunately for him, the hand of Havertz intervened to rob him of his big moment.
Arsenal lead again! After excellent work down the left from Rice, the ball finds its way to Merino, whose shot into the ground appears to take a deflection off the hand of Havertz on its way into goal. That will be disallowed!
86 min: Arsenal press and probe with a real sense of urgency. Odegaard appears to dive under a challenge from Kamara and is incensed when he isn’t awarded a free-kick. Villa go forward on the break and Bogarde tests David Raya.
84 min: Villa substitution: Leon Bailey replaces Jacob Ramsey.
82 min: Arsenal substitution: Raheem Sterling comes on for Martinelli.
82 min: Partey pulls the ball into the path of Odegaard, whose shot into a thicket of bodies is blocked.
81 min: Mikel Merino tries to curl a cross into the path of Martinelli as he sprints towards the edge of the six-yard box but his delivery is crucially cut out by Konsa.
80 min: Aston Villa substitution: Jhon Duran comes on for their goalscorer Ollie Watkins.
79 min: Rice sends the free-kick from deep into the Arsenal box, where it’s headed out for a goal-kick by Havertz.
77 min: Merino goes to ground and wins a free-kick for Arsenal after being fouled by Kamara, who gets booked for his late challenge.
76 min: Villa break upfield with Cash on the ball. He’s robbed of possession by Lewis-Skelly, Arsenal win a free-kick deep in their own half and take it quickly. There’s an air of desperation about the home side going into these final 15 minutes – they really need a winner to keep the pressure on Liverpool.
74 min: Arsenal get back on the ball, pressing for a much-needed winner after suffering those setbacks from a position where they looked like they had everything under control. Declan Rice tries his luck from distance but his shot whistles wide of the goal.
72 min: Matty Cash is forced off the pitch to get a bleeding lip cleaned up and is now slurping from an energy drink as he waits for permission to come back on.
70 min: Watkins, a childhood Arsenal fan, was about to be replaced by Jhon Duran when he scored that goal but he has now forced his manager into a rethink. Duran has his tracksuit top back on and has now retaken his seat on the bench.
Villa level the scores! Arsenal failed to clear that free-kick convincingly and Watkins beats Raya with a sweet sidefoot volley at the far post after connecting with a cross from Matty Cash that Kai Havertz should have cleared. Watkins was left completely unmarked by Thomas Partey.
Ollie Watkins on the volley, levels for Villa! Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters
Watkins runs to the Villa fans to celebrate! Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters
67 min: Leandro Trossard is booked for a robust and unecessary challenge on Ollie Watkins out by the touchline. Villa sent the ball into the penalty area, where Merino heads clear.
66 min: Arsenal win another corner. Odegaard sends the ball into the Villa box, where Morgan Rogers heads clear.
66 min: The ball dropping over his shoulder, Martinelli sends a half-decent volley fizzing over the Villa bar.
63 min: Villa are right back in this game after looking down and out as recently as three minutes ago. Unai Emery is booked for kicking the ball away when it looked like he was just returning it from his technical area to quite near the scene of a restart. It’s not just Arsenal players who are victimised by these over-fussy referees – their former managers are victims of The Conspiracy as well, it seems.
61 min: I say a diving header but truth be told it was more of a stooping one. And what’s this?!?!?! Tielemans goes this close to scoring his second after pouncing on a poor clearance from Lewis-Skelly but strikes the post with his low drive. He should have scored!
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