A dynamic and fascinating match - Arsenal's fifth victory in a row to start the season - illustrated how far they've progressed over the past year. And also how far they still have to go to breach the gap to the top.
Because at the same time as Arsenal were absolutely dominating Aston Villa in the first half, but only managing a single goal when 4-0 would have been a perfectly fair reflection, Manchester City went in at half time three goals to the good against Nottingham Forest. And whilst Arsenal struggled to put Villa away - making life very difficult for themselves in the process - City put another three goals past Forest to complete a comfortable 6-0 victory; whilst Arsenal ended up with a mere 2-1 scoreline.
Of course, comparisons are essentially unfair. City are much further along the line than are Arsenal; almost the complete team, in fact. So complete that they can afford to let two of their 'fringe' players leave for Arsenal (plus Sterling to Chelsea, of course), and replace one of them with the hottest property in world football. But for the moment, whilst Arsenal keep pace with them at the top of the table, we can dare to dream. Because at the end of the day it's not how you get the points - it's that you get them; full stop.
Still, I hope that the Celebration Police managed to hold themselves back for once... the fools!
Talking points from the Villa game were as follows:
Firstly, the first half performance was the best we've seen of Arsenal this season. Coming off of 4 successive wins, that's quite a statement. But for me they were simply sensational. All action. Tremendous pressure on the opposition. Creators of many chances. And roared on by a crowd that can really start to stick two fingers up at any suggestions of a 'library'. We're with you all the way, boys.
Even when Villa equalised in the second half - and I'll come to that - the support was unwavering. A moment to take stock, and then a massive roar: 'ARSENAL! ARSENAL! ARSENAL!' Fantastic! The crowd can take the 'assist' for the almost instant response - less than 90 seconds and the team were ahead again.
It's worth noting that they've conceded 4 goals so far this season, but then scored themselves 1, 3, 8 and 2 minutes later. The sign of a team that believes in itself and has the mental fortitude to fight back from adversity. Of course, that's unlikely to continue throughout the season, and there will be days when it doesn't happen. But if we compare that to last season, when Arsenal came back just once from a losing position to gain all three points... well, it's quite a remarkable turnaround.
Now to refereeing. I'm sure that Arsenal fans were looking forwards optimistically following a summer when the likes of Dean, Moss and Atkinson all retired. But from what I've seen so far, their replacements are merely carrying on with the anti-Arsenal 'conspiracy'. We've seen how poor they've been as a group for some time now, but at least we knew what to expect.
But this new group. Gillett? Hopeless. England? Incompetent. Coote? Weak. But Robert Jones, you were an absolute disgrace in this game! Bookings for shirt pulls - three of them - were balanced out by allowing the Villa midfield to kick seven shades of **** out of their counterparts. How Kamara got away without a booking I do not know. McGinn made at least two possible leg-breaking challenges. And how Bukayo Saka didn't get a penalty for Mings' first half body slam I will never know.
And then, of course, the equaliser. For all one could say that perhaps Ramsdale could have been stronger, in an incident virtually identical to Brentford's goal on the first day of last season we saw an Arsenal goalkeeper having his arms pinned to his sides by a forward who was obstructing him. In both instances, the goal ought to have been disallowed. If that sort of thing occured the other way round, I'd expect to see it chalked off. I simply don't know what the officials were looking at.
And so I suppose that to come away with victory against an admittedly poor Villa side despite another 90 minutes of refereeing incompetence bodes well for the future. However, I'll get my excuses in early for Sunday at Old Trafford, and Arsenal-hating Paul Tierney.
As for individual performances, I thought that Lokonga did a perfectly adequate job at the base of midfield - aided and abetted by the extra support afforded to him, which actually did nothing to stop the red tide towards the Villa goal. William Saliba had possibly his least effective game so far this season; caught under the ball a couple of times and having a number of decent tussles with Watkins - but he was still pretty damn good. Kieran Tierney looked a lot more like his old self. with the cobwebs now blown away. Xhaka was tremendous, popping up everywhere. Odegaard did his usual oiling the wheels thing, and got kicked all over the pitch for his troubles. Up front Saka got his second assist in two matches, but does need a goal. Jesus was his usual catalytic self and was in exactly the right place for his goal. And Eddie came off the bench looking like a cross between Ian Wright and Thierry Henry - he must be learning a hell of a lot from Jesus, and he must be worth £30m+ in the transfer market now.
But for me the man of the match was Gabriel Martinelli. He must be a nightmare to play against. Constantly on the move and on the edge; and now with the end product that was lacking the previous season. He ran at Cash all night and caused havoc on the right hand side of the Villa defence, took his goal superbly on the half volley, and was denied a sure fire contender for goal of the season by a wonderful save by Martinez.
So it's 5 out of 5. But the first real test comes next as they come up against a revitalised Manchester United at Old Trafford. The bar was admittedly low for United, but they have improved and look a lot more solid than they did a couple of weeks ago. Nonetheless, injuries permitting, I think that Arsenal can and should go there with confidence.
Just a word on TDD (Transfer Deadline Day). As I suggested in my last post, I felt that the focus had to switch from a winger to a midfield player, and for all the summer talk about Tielemans it was Douglas Luiz who Arsenal identified as their TDD target. But for the second time in 24 hours, Villa wouldn't play properly; this time figuratively kicking Arsenal instead of literally. Frankly, I don't understand why they wouldn't sell - they bought Dendoncker from Wolves, Luiz has less than a year on his contract and is free to speak to foreign clubs in 6 weeks' time, sits on the Villa bench most weeks... and Arsenal offered as much as £25m at one point. Illogical.
This means that with Partey probably out for another month, Zinchenko for a week or two, and Elneny for quite a lot longer, Arteta will have to hope that Xhaka and Lokonga stay fit and in form; or he'll be looking to the likes of Ben White to step into midfield. Yet again, Arsenal look short in a key position, but at least we can understand that the search is for the right type of player, not just anybody.
Meantime, we move on with optimism to Sunday. COYG!!!
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