Premier League Match Analysis: Arsenal vs. Aston Villa – Arsenal edge past Villa in nail bitter (Part 1)
Arsenal travelled to Villa Park to take on a high spirited Aston Villa, in what was a scheduled early kick off match.
Aston Villa were looking the stronger of the two sides going into the game which came as a surprise to most. However Arsenal were on a two game losing streak and it seemed like the Dark November curse had finally taken its toll on the
Gunners.
Villa however had a former Gunner amongst their ranks for the match. Robert Pires signed with Aston Villa on a six month loan deal but the interesting fact about the player going into the match was that he was part of Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’
era therefore in the fixture he was going to face his former team for the first time since departing from North London. In other good news for Villa, John Carew was also back from his injury and was brought right back into the starting line up after being
ruled out of four straight games.
Arsenal had made seven changes to their side after they lost to Braga away from home, in the mid-week Champions League fixture. Arsenal's captain Cesc Fabregas managed to injure his leg in that game and was ruled out for the coming two
weeks. This meant the Arsenal midfield would be made up of Tomas Rosicky, Alex Song, Jack Wilshere, Samir Nasri and Andrei Arshavin.
Prior to the match Arsene Wenger went ahead and expressed his surprise to the fact that Gerard Houllier decided to return to the management profession. The manager was reported to saying: "I wasn't surprised that Aston Villa took him but
I was surprised - because he was in a position as director of the French Football Federation - that he chose to leave his job and come again into a hot seat after what he has gone through."
Houllier also expressed his concerns for Stephen Ireland, who was rumoured to be in some sort of hot water with the manager and the club. However Houllier was reported to have said about the player: "I am very patient and I hope everyone
is as patient as I am. His attitude is fine. I expect more than he can give at the moment. As a player, he has got something special. I like that. But his input has got to be better."
Continued in Part 2...
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