Arsenal’s match at Aston Villa may have been only their second of the new Premier League season, but for manager Mikel Arteta it groaned under the weight of significance.
Arteta and Arsenal are now painfully aware of the levels of perfection required to cross the bridge from second place to champions, having fallen short to Manchester City in the past two seasons.
And if there is one opponent guaranteed to bring that task into even sharper focus it is Aston Villa, who inflicted the biggest damage on the Gunners’ title aspirations with a league double last season.
The loss at Villa Park in December came only days after Manchester City suffered a similar fate in this hostile environment.
It was the 2-0 defeat by Villa at Emirates Stadium in mid-April that effectively ended Arsenal’s chances, handing the initiative back to Pep Guardiola’s side with inevitable results.
So Arsenal wanted to make an early statement of intent while proving lessons have been learned and the improvements required – in this case, actually beating Aston Villa – are in place.
It was achieved in a 2-0 win that was a mixture of grit, good fortune and moments of brilliance, namely goalkeeper David Raya’s stunning second-half save from Ollie Watkins, with the score goalless, that proved to be the game’s pivotal moment.
Watkins, uncharacteristically wasteful in front of England interim manager Lee Carsley, had already fired a golden chance wide in the first half when he thought his moment of redemption had arrived after 54 minutes.
