Two comebacks for the price of one
Arsenal's comeback on Saturday began long before they took to the field at Villa Park. After being beaten by Manchester City the club was at its lowest ebb this season. The Emirates has been a brimming cauldron of noise until the dying embers of matches this season, but by full-time on Wednesday it was quiet and emptied. The players trudged off the pitch dejected with the sense was that they had been roundly beaten. Mikel Arteta though, saw things differently.
After a battling press conference in which he insisted his side "really had" City, he called his players in at London Colney on Thursday to rewatch sections of the game. In this session the Spaniard illustrated how they had matched and, on occasion, even bettered Pep Guardiola's all-conquering side, before losing out in the decisive moments in each box. The message was clear - if they kept playing that way and ironed out the kinks, then the results would eventually follow. It was with this reaffirmation of their capabilities that a fatigued Gunners squad made the trip to Villa Park knowing that only a victory would realistically do to revive their dwindling title charge.
Things could not have got off to a much worse start when Oleksandr Zinchenko was caught in possession before William Saliba allowed Ollie Watkins to fire off a well-taken shot that put Aston Villa up inside five minutes. The Gunners responded well through Bukayo Saka, but minutes later Villa went back in front via Philippe Coutinho scoring his first goal of the season with just the hosts' second shot on target. With this level of extreme punishment, Arsenal's young squad might easily have folded. It was at this point though that their second comeback of the week began.
READ MORE: Every word Mikel Arteta said on Martinelli impact, Saka fitness, Jorginho and Molina scuffle
Zinchenko atoned for his error to level the scores after break, but despite this, huge misses from Martin Odegaard and Eddie Nketiah made it seem as though a better display would once again go unrewarded. This felt truly like a sliding doors moment for the title aspirations.
Jorginho though popped up with a strike that deflected off Emi Martinez to put Arsenal in front for the first time in the 94th minute before Gabriel Martinelli had the joyous task of running the ball into an empty net from a counter not long after. After a week featuring two results that were tough to swallow, such a dramatic reward for Arsenal's relentlessness felt like the perfect chaser. Few felt this more than Arteta
"I feel it’s right back with more belief than before because you have to turn performances into results," Arteta said of his side's confidence in his post-match press conference. "Against Brentford, we did that but we couldn’t win it because of a decision - fine - against Manchester City we deserved more with the performance but the reality is that in football the games are decided in the boxes. Today we have to put something else."
From running on fumes, the Gunners' title charge is now motoring on with full gas again. It was a comeback that took just a few minutes, but one that had been days in the making.
Jorginho the hero
It is only three weeks ago that you would have been carried off in a straight jacket for suggesting that an away end of Arsenal's would be cheering Jorginho's name. Come full-time at Villa Park though that was exactly what happened.
The Italian's arrival had been met with disappointment by segments of the Gunners fanbase. Having been tempted the midfield engine of Moises Caicedo, having to settle for someone who had been around the block a little more in Jorginho was a tough gear shift for many. Over the past two matches though, he has proved what a shrewd acquisition he truly is.
Thomas Partey's influence on Mikel Arteta's side cannot be understated. The dropoff from the Ghanaian for much of this season has been cliff-like and it is no surprise that every single one of Arsenal's defeats this season have come when he has been unable to complete a match. That is why Arteta felt it so necessary to bring in a player capable of covering for Partey to a far higher level than either Mohamed Elneny or Albert Sambi Lokonga had managed so far this campaign. Across two matches now Jorginho has certainly proved himself up to that challenge.
The 31-year-old was impressive against Manchester City and he continued that form at Aston Villa. It's not just his ability on the ball that is so impressive - see his quick bit of footwork in the build-up to Bukayo Saka's strike for evidence of that - but rather his relentless maintenance of standards on the pitch.
The veteran midfielder is a constant vocal presence in the game and is not afraid to call things out when notices a mistake. As Ben White found himself in the incorrect position to receive a pass early in the game, the England international quickly received an earful from Jorginho before going on to have a superb match of his own. The winning goal was just the cherry on top of an excellent afternoon for the Italian, even if it was something even Arteta has never seen him do.
"I certainly didn’t see that quality of him - scoring from deep," the Spaniard said after the game. "The biggest quality he has is that he makes other people look better, better than what you actually are. He’s made a huge impact already on the boys and the staff and hopefully our fans. I hope people can see that because I thought he was tremendous today."
It's only come the end of the season that we'll truly be able to assess Edu's work in the January transfer window. If Arsenal win the league, it will be considered a success and if they don't it will be viewed as a failure. One thing the Brazilian has done for sure in his arrival though is turned an area of weakness in this Arsenal squad into one of strength. With Thomas Partey potentially out for longer than first hoped, it could be essential to their title hopes.
Martinelli mixes it up
It wasn't exactly a shock to see Gabriel Martinelli on the bench for the clash with Aston Villa. The Brazilian hasn't been on top form in recent weeks, and in limited glimpses, Leandro Trossard has looked worthy of a starting position.
Despite not being in the initial XI though it was likely that Martinelli was always going to come on at Villa Park. How he chose to respond to that opportunity was going to be fascinating. It's safe to say he grabbed it with both hands.
If there's one word that can used to be described Martinelli's playing style at its best, it is probably the energy. The 21-year-old is a relentless bundle of mercurial talent up top, but in recent games, he has been looking a little fatigued. With an extra hour's rest under his belt though, his impact was almost instant.
While Trossard had struggled to stretch Villa in behind too often, Martinelli immediately set about looking to make runs off the shoulder of Matty Cash. The Polish full back couldn't cope and was left frazzled by a red-hot Martinelli on top form. This is what the Brazilian is capable of when he's at his best.
The extra energy in his tank was probably handy as he roared past the Villa back line to receive Fabio Vieira's pass and slide home into an empty net. That image of him celebrating before he had even scored will go down in Arsenal infamy, but for Mikel Arteta it was how the Brazilian impacted the game off the bench that was his highlight.
"It’s not dropping him," he insisted when asked about how Martinelli had responded to being left out of the starting XI for the first time this season in the league. "He’s played every single minute. You don’t see players his age doing that. We have three 21-year-olds leading the front line. It’s unheard of. Leo (Trossard) has been doing really well and we needed impact. I was really worried about the last 25 minutes of this game after everything that we put on Wednesday. We needed energy and we needed a player that could do that. I thought we did it."
Again though this was a day when Arteta was able to call on his squad to help him get a result he desperately needed. That January business seems to be looking more and more shrewd with each passing week.
City slip up
Despite the jubilation of going back to the top of the table with the win, the assumption was that the sensation was only to be short-lived. Manchester City were facing relegation-battling Nottingham Forest, and would surely pick up a routine three points to restore them to first place. As is often the case with the Premier League though things were not that simple.
Pep Guardiola's side slipped up yet again, dropping two crucial points to ensure the Gunners are now back on top with a game in hand. While that will certainly provide them with a psychological boost though, Mikel Arteta's insistence is that his side need to spend time tending to their own garden before peering too far over the fence.
He will have loved the resilience he saw from his team on Saturday then. It is often said that Premier League champions need as much character as they have quality and Arsenal certainly can't be accused of lacking that at this point. While he wouldn't go so far as to suggest the comeback win was proof that his side could in fact win this league title, Arteta was insistent that these were the kind of victories his side would need to achieve that aim.
"Sometimes you’re going to have to win games in the 94th, in the 96th, you’re gonna have to score from set plays, you’re gonna have to score when sometimes you are down to 10 men," the Spaniard told football.london . "Win in any context and we’ve always talked about that. Today we had a really difficult context, especially with what happened after five minutes, and the team showed a lot of emotional qualities that are needed to be out there. So, I’m really happy."
Having previously looked as though they'd let it slip, Arsenal are now back in the driving seat for this season's title race. Whether they'll be successful remains to be seen, but if there's one less that we should take away from the helter-skelter nature of this week it's that this run in is far from a done deal.
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