Key events
75 minutes: Aston Villa Double substitution: Ian Maatsen and Ross Barkley replace Lucas Digne and Amadou Onana. This is Barkley's second spell at Villa, having spent a season on loan at the club.
74 minutes: Rogers takes the ball on the half-turn in midfield and launches into another gallop towards the opponent's half. This time, he weaves into traffic and loses possession before he can find a teammate.
72 minutes: Amadou Onana takes one for the team and is cautioned for an illegal challenge on Bukayo Saka, who was trying to escape down the right flank in a counterattack.
72 minutes: Corner from Villa. Leon Bailey's cross is poor and the ball is cleared off the near post by Declan Rice.
70 minutes: Saka did an excellent job to recover a seemingly lost cause, preventing the ball from going out of play and returning it to the Villa box. Havertz and Rogers battled for the ball, which found its way to Trossard, who made no mistake with his first-time shot from around 12 yards.
GOAL! Aston Villa 0-1 Arsenal (Trossard 68)
Arsenal lead: Fresh off the bench in place of Martinelli, Leandro Trossard heads home a heroic pass from Bukayo Saka from the byline that was helped, perhaps unintentionally, by Havertz, who was battling for the ball with Morgan Rogers.
66 minutes: Villa make double substitutions: Jhon Duran and Jacob Ramsey replace Ollie Watkins and John McGinn. If Villa don't win this game, Watkins won't be able to sleep tonight after those two errors.
64 minutes: Bukayo Saka delays his shot after Odegaard passes him the ball, tries to pass the ball to Martinez and misses a chance. I think he was offside when Odegaard passed the ball to him.
63 minutes: A Villa Park crowd that spent long stretches of the first half fast asleep have the scent of blood in their nostrils and continue to roar at their team. Arsenal they look vulnerable.
61 minutes: Morgan Rogers, who has been superb for Villa, overcomes attacks from Rice and Martinelli before sending a low, weak shot wide of the far post. The ball goes wide and Villa wins a corner. Arsenal Sure, but only until Nedejkovic, who is forced to retreat.
59 minutes: Gabriel has been booked for a late foul on Onana, who has just headed over the bar after making a late run from deep in the area. Arsenal box.
57 minutes: Watkins can't believe he didn't score and he almost certainly would have if he had headed the ball towards either winger. The thing is, I think he thought scoring was a mere formality if he had headed it towards goal as he thought Raya was out of the game.
55 minutes: Wow! Amadou Onana's shot from outside the box deflects sharply, soars into the air and crashes off the bar. Ollie Watkins dives to head the rebound past Raya, but the Arsenal The goalkeeper, who was on the ground after trying to stop the original shot, somehow gets back to his feet and denies the Villa striker a goal with a world-class save. bright goalie.
53 minutes: Pau Torres gives John McGinn a hospital pass just outside the Villa penalty area and the Villa captain is fortunate that he is fouled by Thomas Partey, who had lunged at him and was trying to take possession of the ball from him.
50 minutes: Arsenal Arsenal are completely dominating possession in the early stages of this second half but are struggling to break past their hosts, who are defending tenaciously. Martin Odegaard is the latest Arsenal player to be left out of options after looking up and seeing no options available.
47 minutes: For appearances' sake, Declan Rice jogs for a deep home run that is hit high off the ground and right to Emiliano Martinez. Arsenal Number 41 was never going to come close.
Second half: Aston Villa 0-0 Arsenal
46 minutes: Arsenal We're starting the second half and we hope that both teams will show more quality in this second half. Neither team has been particularly bad, but both teams have been far from their best level.
Clarification: Leon Bailey didn't literally break his neck trying to make that crucial clearance. The Villa winger appears to be fine, despite another injury scare.
A tweet: Villa fan and valued member of the Football Weekly podcast team, Dan Bardell, has this to say…
Good half of #AVFCthe best team for me.
Rogers is wonderful, I love Tielemans and Onana just gives us a bit more stability in midfield.
My favourite part of the first half was when Bailey broke his neck to get back to goal and made a key clearance. His growth in the game under Emery is magnificent.
— Dan Bardell (@danbardell) August 24, 2024
An email: “Despite the Guardian's coverage being notoriously pro-London, maybe, just maybe, Villa will get fairer coverage this season,” writes Chris, who clearly didn't take the time to read any of the largely fawning coverage the Guardian and most other British media outlets gave Villa last season, but still feels qualified to complain about it.
Aston Villa 0-0 Arsenal
Half-time: The end of a very lackluster first half is approaching and will not live long in the memories of those who took part in it, except for Ollie Watkins. The deadlock remains unbroken, largely due to an inexplicable mistake by the Aston Villa striker.
45+5 minutes: Onana fouls Saka as he tries to turn, prompting Mikel Arteta to lose control with the fourth official as the Villa midfielder is not booked. Arsenal The coach receives a reprimand from referee Michael Oliver.
45+3 minutes: Declan Rice has been booked for a foul on Morgan Rogers, who is causing all sorts of problems for Arsenal on the edge of the final third. He has been a constant threat throughout the game. Aston Villa.
45+2 minutes: Onana heads Martinelli's shot into the Villa area from the left, but it is cleared.
45 minutes: Youri Tielemans passes the ball to Declan Rice in the centre of the pitch as the fourth official announces that there will be six minutes of added time. I'm not going to lie, I thought there would be more.
43 minutes: Morgan Rogers tries his luck from distance but his shot crashes off the legs of Watkins, who had played the ball to his feet in the first instance and was running through the area. Arsenal penalty area on a decoy run. The ball comes to Bailey, who attempts a curling shot towards the top corner but can only send it into Raya's gloves.
40 minutes: Torres, running through his own six-yard box with the ball at his feet, is challenged by Havertz, who stamps hard on his foot. The Villa defender barely manages to get the ball back to Martinez before falling to the ground clutching his instep. He will survive.
39 minutes: Martinelli tries to cross the ball into the Villa area from the left after receiving a nice pass from Rice. Pau Torres blocks it and sends it out for a corner before it reaches the near post.
34 minutes: McGinn picks up a loose ball in the centre of the area from Saliba, who was on the ground after a tussle for the ball with Watkins by the corner flag. A minor scuffle ensues between the two, but Michael Oliver calms them down without feeling the need to show any yellow cards.
33 minutes: Bailey is on hand to intercept a low, inaccurate cross from Havertz into the Villa penalty area that threatened to find its way to Saka.
32 minutes: John McGinn dives to try and take possession from Saliba near the touchline and leaves the man breathless. Arsenal Defender. It was a tough challenge but also a fair one.
31 minutes: William Saliba comes out to intercept a dangerous pass from Morgan Rogers to Leon Bailey and clears the Arsenal lines. Good defending.
30 minutes: It's been half an hour and the game still hasn't started to take off, but… Aston Villa He should be ahead after wasting that glorious chance to score.
29 minutes: The camera pans to Watkins, who chooses that exact moment to evacuate the contents of his nose with a pair of high-speed snot rockets.
28 minutes: It's hard to believe Watkins missed that chance to put his team ahead. He set up to shoot and sent David Raya the wrong way, but his shot went just wide of the post. If anything, Clive, he had also a lot of time to think about what I was doing.
25 minutes: Oh my God! A mistake by Gabriel allows Morgan Rogers to break into the Arsenal penalty area and crosses the ball to Ollie Watkins, who was completely unmarked. With Arsenal's goal open and only David Raya to beat, he shoots the ball with his foot from several metres wide of the left post. shocking miss.
24 minutes: There is another brief pause in play as Declan Rice fiddles with a strange contact lens and puts it back into place under the supervision of referee Michael Oliver.
23 minutes: This game started late and has had a very irregular start for several reasons. Arsenal They are slightly ahead, but the game has not yet settled down or found any kind of rhythm.
