Last season, Aston Villa beat Arsenal twice, derailing the Gunners’ title hopes, so it is no wonder that this match was highly anticipated this week. Both teams won their opening game, and Villa, who have Champions League football to contend with this season, were hoping to continue their good form from last season. Two second half goals gave Arsenal the win however, but the game could have gone either way, with Villa squandering two clear chances. Here are the players who impressed, and those who didn’t.

Stars

Morgan Rogers - Aston Villa

The attacking midfielder may have only joined from Middlesbrough last January, but he already looks like a comfortable fit into Unai Emery’s side. The youngster had a number of rather unsuccessful loan spells in the EFL before he joined Boro in 2023, but he had impressed enough to catch the eye of the Villa recruitment team.

Against Arsenal, he ran the midfield for large parts of the first half. Both his pace and his strength was too much for the likes of Declan Rice and Thomas Partey in the Gunner’s midfield. He really should have capped off his performance with an assist, but the final product for Villa was missing.

More to come. pic.twitter.com/3FP0Qxyv3Q

— Morgan Rogers (@morgz_10) August 25, 2024

It seems as though he has come out of nowhere to become an incredible midfielder, and maybe the Arsenal players were thinking that too, as every time he got on the ball, they thought they had him cornered, only for him to find a way out, more often than not, towards the Arsenal goal.

Leandro Trossard - Arsenal

Even though he came on as a substitute in the second half, Leandro Trossard was the sole reason that Arsenal came away from Villa Park with all three points. The Belgian winger changed the game, getting in behind his full back and providing the other attackers with a number of crosses.

After some good play down the Arsenal left between Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka, the latter crossed the ball into the box which ricocheted to Trossard’s feet, and with his first touch, he scored the opening goal of the game. It is starting to become a habit of his, coming off the bench to score important goals for the Gunners, but his celebration may have indicated that he thinks he should be starting.

Leandro Trossard:

One touch, one goal 🎯 pic.twitter.com/sbn9YJjP79

— B/R Football (@brfootball) August 24, 2024

For Arsenal’s second goal, Trossard was the target for a long ball in behind and he managed to get a low cross across Villa’s box. The ball was picked up by Saka who laid it off to Partey who’s outside of the box shot was too strong for Emi Martinez to keep out. Trossard was pivotal to both goals, and so I wouldn’t be surprised if he started next week.

Flops

Ollie Watkins - Aston Villa

One of the best players in the whole league last season, Ollie Watkins will be wanting to forget this game. To start with, he struggled to get involved, after about fifteen minutes he had just managed one touch of the ball. The Englishman already had five career goals against the Gunners, so many were expecting that scoring streak to continue.

After a mistake at the back from Gabriel, Rogers played in Watkins who was one on one with David Raya. The Spanish goalkeeper was not in the best position to save Watkins’ subsequent shot, but that didn’t matter, as he dragged it wide of the post.

"Ollie is down right now and its our job to pull him back up... he's got nothing to apologise for"

John McGinn tells @CarrieBrownTV that the Villa team and management will rally around Ollie Watkins and remind him of who he is after his big misses today.#beINPL #AVFC pic.twitter.com/dczBCkBQIm

— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) August 24, 2024

In the second half it was more of the same from Watkins. After Amadou Onana’s effort was deflected, it looped onto the bar and Raya was scrambling backwards to try and save it. The rebound fell to Watkins, and with the goalkeeper on the floor in the goal, everyone would have expected Villa to open the scoring. However Watkin’s header was too close to Raya who managed to react quickly to make a world class save. The English striker will be disappointed with his performance.

Gabriel Martinelli - Arsenal

Winger Gabriel Martinelli hasn’t had the best 12 months. A mixture of injury and poor form led to Trossard getting a number of starts ahead of him last season, but the Brazilian was given the nod in this fixture and he needed to take the opportunity with both hands.

Even though his pace forced Matty Cash off through injury, he still struggled to get involved too much in the game. Each time he got the ball on the wing, he was either forced to go back inside, or his crosses found no one.

Cannot be giving up on Gabriel Martinelli. Na Na Na....not happening here.

If there is a player who has earned more patience than others, it's him.

— Declan Rice deadass plays for The Arsenal (@Claw_Of_Logan) August 24, 2024

His performance wasn’t particularly poor, but being replaced by the eventual game winner in Trossard doesn’t look good. Should Martinelli start in their next fixture, he needs to show that Mikel Arteta’s faith in him isn’t misplaced. There was a lot of talk about getting a new left winger in during the summer window, but that talk has died down, so it looks as if Arteta thinks he has enough in that position. It’s about time Martinelli proved him right.