5/10 Arsenal star dropped a ‘stinker’

On Wednesday evening, Arsenal revived their title hopes. It wasn’t pretty. In fact, little in this season was not easy on the eye.

Alas, they are back in the title race, closing the gap on Liverpool to four points.

Well, he might be out of it again after a frustrating 2-2 draw at home to Unai Emery’s Aston Villa.

Mikel ArtetaThe team created plenty of chances – as they did against Manchester United a week ago and Spurs in midweek – but were ultimately undone by some poor defending.

With the Gunners struggling in attack, it was refreshing to see them go 2-0 up, but Villa rallied well to escape north London with a point thanks to Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins.

It wasn’t a great day for at all Premier Leaguesecond-placed side, but there were several standout players in red and white.

Arsenal’s best players against Aston Villa

After a lot of criticism for his performances since Bukayo Saka was injured, Leandro Trossard has now produced good results in back-to-back games.

The Belgian scored the winner against Tottenham a few days ago and was perhaps Arsenal’s biggest threat on Saturday night.

Trossard created both of the home side’s goals, manipulating the ball well on the left before crossing to Gabriel Martinelli who scored in the second half.

He was a provider in the second half as well, crossing for Kai Havertz whose powerful effort could not be stopped by former Gunner Emi Martinez.

While the attack looked like it was starting to click, Arsenal almost escaped with all three points except for VAR ruling out a late goal. A long-range shot deflected off Havertz’s hand and found the net.

The big positive of the evening is that the German is back among the goals. As well as him and Trossard, teenager Myles Lewis Skelly also starred again and almost got the assist for the win, slotting the ball into the back for Trossard deep into stoppage time, only for the former Brighton man to capitalize on the scoring opportunity.

By contrast, it’s a shame that Arsenal’s main creator, their captain, wasn’t at the races.

Martin Odegaard’s performance in numbers

This was not the best season already Martin Odegaard.

The Norwegian suffered an ankle injury on international duty with Norway in September, a moment which saw him miss 12 games. Since he came back, he hasn’t been at his best.

Namely, after missing a penalty last Sunday in the FA Cup, the captain seems to be suffering from a lack of confidence, which is not helped by Saka’s injury.

Still, with the Englishman short, someone has to step up, and it should be Odegaard. He is Arteta’s leader on the pitch, but he doesn’t show the qualities needed either in the leadership department or on the ball.

His performance against Emery’s men was so poor that he Described by Arsenal reporter Con Harrison as a “stinker”.while GOAL handed him over low match rating 5/10.

The stats told the story of a really bad night for Odegaard who made just one key pass. Usually the conductor of chances within Arsenal’s side, he really struggled to pick up pockets of space between Villa’s lines.

What summed things up was his late free-kick, a moment that turned out to be the last kick of the game. Odegaard swung the ball deep and straight into the hands of Martinez.

It was one of the He gave the ball away 18 times and to make matters worse, he hasn’t won a single fight, a fact that will no doubt worry Arteta.

He also had just one shot and failed on his only dribble attempt. This was probably one of his worst performances in an Arsenal shirt.

If the Gunners are to have any chance of winning the league, their captain must improve quickly.