Arsenal's Premier League title hopes were dealt two major blows by Aston Villa in 2023/24. In that context, Saturday's 2-0 victory for the Gunners at Villa Park felt like a significant moment, even though we're only two matchdays into the new season.
In a game of limited excitement, and one in which neither team was at their best, it was the impact of second-half substitute Leandro Trossard that turned the contest in the visitors' favour.
The Belgian swept home the opening goal midway through the half with practically his first involvement after replacing Gabriel Martinelli. Then, just 10 minutes later, Trossard's run and across led to Bukayo Saka teeing up Thomas Partey to double Arsenal's lead and kill any Villa hope of a comeback.
The second goal is not one Emiliano Martinez will want to see again. The Villa goalkeeper got two hands to Partey's shot but could only help it on its way into the bottom corner before pounding the turf with his first in frustration. The away fans could hardly contain their delight at a former Gunner effectively handing their team the victory. They serenaded him until the final whistle, and beyond.
At the other end, David Raya arguably had an impact as important as Trossard's. Although rarely tested, the Spaniard made a superb reaction save to deny Ollie Watkins, who headed a rebound goalwards after Amadou Onana's deflected shot hit the crossbar. Watkins, who also missed a glorious chance in the first half, cut a disconsolate figure on the bench after being replaced by last week's matchwinner Jhon Duran.
The Arsenal dugout, meanwhile, was jubilant. It may still only be August, but this felt like a big test of their title credentials. Arteta and his players came through it well.
Aston Villa vs. Arsenal final score
| Fulltime | Goalscorers | |
| Aston Villa | 0 | |
| Arsenal | 2 | Trossard 67', Partey 77' |
Confirmed lineups:
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1, right to left): 23. Emiliano Martinez — 2. Matty Cash (20. Kosta Nedeljkovic), 4. Ezri Konsa, 14. Pau Torres, 12. Lucas Digne (22. Ian Maatsen) — 24. Amadou Onana (6. Ross Barkley), 8. Youri Tielemans — 31. Leon Bailey, 27. Morgan Rogers, 7. John McGinn (41. Jacob Ramsey) — 11. Ollie Watkins (9. Jhon Duran)
Arsenal (4-3-3, right to left): 22. David Raya (GK) — 4. Ben White, 2. William Saliba, 6. Gabriel, 12. Jurrien Timber (33. Riccardo Calafiori) — 8. Martin Odegaard, 5. Thomas Partey, 41. Declan Rice — 7. Bukayo Saka, 29. Kai Havertz, 11. Gabriel Martinelli (19. Leandro Trossard)
MORE: Arsenal, Man City dominate PFA Team of the Year | Latest EPL top scorers
Aston Villa vs. Arsenal stats
| Aston Villa | Stat | Arsenal |
| 11 | Shots | 9 |
| 3 | Shots on target | 4 |
| 1.35 | Expected goals | 1.13 |
| 39% | Possession | 61% |
| 321 | Passes | 502 |
| 4 | Corners | 1 |
| 8 | Fouls | 15 |
| 1 | Yellow cards | 3 |
| 3 | Offsides | 1 |
Aston Villa vs. Arsenal live updates, highlights, and commentary
Fulltime: Aston Villa 0-2 Arsenal
All over at Villa Park, and Arsenal have claimed a really impressive 2-0 win. Mikel Arteta's team were certainly not at their best, but Leandro Trossard made the difference off the bench.
90 + 4 mins: Arsenal fans jeer Martinez as he catches a simple loose ball. That might be the end of this one.
90 mins: We'll have four minutes of added time, but this game very much feels done and dusted. What a terrific result for Arsenal this is.
85 mins: Saliba makes a brilliant recovery tackle to deny Ramsey a clear shot at goal, giving Raya an easier save than he might have hoped. The Arsenal defender celebrates like he's scored himself.
80 mins: It should be 3-0! Trossard is at it again, nudging the ball to Rice, who puts it on a plate for Odegaard 12 yards out, yet the captain blazes his shot over the bar. Arsenal fans are still jubilant, singing the name of the Villa keeper, who has helped their team into a 2-0 lead.
77 mins: GOAL! PARTEY SURELY WINS IT FOR ARSENAL! Trossard is involved again, spinning in behind the Villa defence and flashing a low ball across goal. Saka reaches it and tees up Partey on the edge of the box, and the midfielder's low strike creeps into the bottom corner, with Martinez unable to keep it out. It's a poor one from Villa's goalkeeper against his old club.
76 mins: Ross Barkley is on for Villa, as is Ian Maatsen for his home debut.
72 mins: Onana is booked for a foul on Saka, who moments ago whipped up the away stand after winning a tackle. He knows these could be 20 important minutes for the Gunners' season (yes, even though it's only their second game).
67 mins: GOAL! TROSSARD PUTS ARSENAL AHEAD! Saka keeps the ball in play, and though his cross evades Havertz, the ball takes a kind bounce off Rogers. Trossard runs onto it and sweeps a low finish into the net with practically his first touch of the match.
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66 mins: Another Villa chance! A simple lofted free-kick into the box picks out the unmarked Ezri Konsa, who knocks the ball back across goal and behind. Arsenal were let off the hook there.
63 mins: SAKA! Huge chance for Arsenal! Odegaard plays a great reverse ball and suddenly Saka is through one-on-one against Martinez. He seems unsure whether to shoot or try to go around the keeper, and the Villa man makes a good block. It looked like Saka would have been offside anyway, had he scored.
54 mins: WHAT A SAVE FROM RAYA! Onana's shot takes a big deflection, loops up and comes back off the Arsenal crossbar. Watkins reacts quickest and stoops to head the rebound in, but Raya gets back to his feet and makes a brilliant one-handed stop. Fantastic goalkeeping, but Watkins really should have buried it.
50 mins: Villa have been a bit more purposeful since the restart, although chances have largely been non-existent.
Kickoff: Second half
Let's see if things can liven up a bit.
Halftime: Aston Villa 0-0 Arsenal
The halftime whistle seemed to wake up half the crowd, there. They had precious little entertainment, that's for sure. Saka and Havertz could have scored for Arsenal; Watkins definitely should have scored for Villa. But it's goalless.
45+3 mins: Rogers has come to life in the latter part of this half. He spins away from Partey and is fouled by Rice, who gets a booking. Digne takes the free-kick, but his attempted pass wide is so poor that Youri Tielemans has to make a sliding tackle that hands Arsenal a goal kick.
45 mins: We'll have six minutes of added time at the end of the half, largely because of those early Villa injuries.
44 mins: A rare spell of possession for Villa in the Arsenal half ends in Bailey trying to lob Raya, but the attempt isn't quite on the money. Just before then, Rogers got himself into another good position, but Watkins managed to get in the way of his teammate's shot.
41 mins: Rogers with a fantastic run, leaving Rice for dead and somehow getting through a crowd of Arsenal defenders and into the penalty area, but Raya deals with his attempted cut-back.
39 mins: Big chance for Havertz! Rice plays a really clever pass with the outside of his right foot to send Martinelli into the box. He squares it for Havertz, who can't make good contact with the ball at the near post and only sends it bobbling wide. That was probably Arsenal's best opening of this half.
34 mins: Kai Havertz, that's a waste! Rice's throughball is excellent and sets the Germany forward running in behind the Villa back four. He has Saka in support, but he passes it straight to Bailey, who clears. At the other end, Saliba wins a free-kick with a bit of a dive, and McGinn kicks the ball at him. Ben White then does the same to the Villa man. That was all a bit unnecessary.
32 mins: A quick John McGinn free-kick releases Rogers, but his cut-back to Bailey is spotted and intercepted by William Saliba. Arsenal counter, but Thomas Partey's shot from outside the box is too high.
30 mins: Saka thinks about who to pass to on the edge of the Villa box, can't decide, and falls over trying to kick the ball. Villa win a promising throw-in at the other end, and Lucas Digne hurls it straight out for a goal kick. This has not been a classic.
25 mins: WATKINS HAS TO SCORE! What a miss! Gabriel dithers on the ball and Bailey pressures him into losing it on the edge of the Arsenal box. Morgan Rogers squares it to Watkins, who only has David Raya to beat, but he drags his shot wide from around 10 yards out. What a dreadful attempt. The crowd can hardly believe it.
22 mins: Bailey seems okay and is going to try to carry on. Villa's attack has been non-existent so far, which needs to change.
20 mins: Onana, who's recovered from that earlier blow to the head, leads a rare Villa foray forward. Leon Bailey receives the pass, then seems to hurt himself while turning with the ball. He passes it back and drops to the turf in clear pain. This has not been a good opening 20 minutes for Unai Emery.
16 mins: Saka goes close! Villa have been playing with 10 men for a couple of minutes while waiting to make the substitution. Saka works space inside the box and tries to pick out the bottom corner, but Emiliano Martinez makes a really good save.
13 mins: Matty Cash tries to block a Martinelli cross and immediately goes to ground holding his hamstring. This might be an early enforced change for the home side. Yep — Cash can't continue. Teenager Kosta Nedeljkovic is coming on.
11 mins: Some would say the start of this game has been cagey. I'd suggest it's been pretty boring. Maybe the players have been waiting for the officials' comm system to get fully up and running again (which it now is).
7 mins: Martinez flaps at a cross from Bukayo Saka, but he claims a poor snapshot from Declan Rice on the rebound. That all came from a promising Arsenal break led by Gabriel Martinelli, who didn't really make the most of it.
3 mins: Bit of a delay here as Amadou Onana is being assessed for a possible head injury. He seemed to take an accidental hit to the face while challenging Jurrien Timber.
Kickoff: First half
We're off and running! The home side get us underway.
1 min before kickoff: Well, it should be one minute before kickoff, but there's a delay at Villa Park. According to Sky Sports in the UK, there's been a problem with the communication equipment the match officials use, and the match can't start until that's working again. But the teams are in the tunnel, so it seems things are up and running again...
15 mins before kickoff: It's a glorious early evening in Birmingham. Not long to go now...
35 mins before kickoff: City and Spurs have won big today, so this definitely feels like a big test for Arsenal.
1 hour before kickoff: The team news is IN. Arsenal are without Gabriel Jesus today, the club saying he has a "slight groin issue". Fabio Vieira is not in the squad as he is expected to sign for Porto on loan. In terms of the starting XI, the Gunners are unchanged from last week, apart from Jurrien Timber coming in for Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Villa are unchanged from their victory over West Ham last week.
1 hour 25 mins before kickoff: Arsenal were so impressive away from home last season. They conceded the fewest goals (13) and kept the most clean sheets (11) in the Premier League on their travels, earning 42 points from those games. Yet Villa defeated them twice with really impressive performances. What can the Gunners do differently today?
1 hour 45 mins before kickoff: The Gunners will feel like this is an important game to win, even so early in the season. Manchester City look to be cruising to three points against Ipswich Town, Tottenham are beating Everton, and Liverpool are expected to beat Brentford tomorrow. Mikel Arteta will want his players to lay down a marker today.
2 hours before kickoff: Aston Villa beat Arsenal twice last season without conceding a goal. They did as much as anyone to spoil their title aspirations. Can they do so again?
Aston Villa vs. Arsenal kick off time
This match kicks off at Villa Park, Birmingham, UK at 5:30 p.m. local time.
Here's how that time translates across some of the major territories:
| Date | Kickoff time | |
| USA | Sat, Aug. 24 | 12:30 p.m. ET |
| Canada | Sat, Aug. 24 | 12:30 p.m. ET |
| UK | Sat, Aug. 24 | 5:30 p.m. BST |
| Australia | Sun, Aug. 25 | 2:30 a.m. AEDT |
| India | Sat, Aug. 24 | 10:00 p.m. IST |
Aston Villa vs. Arsenal lineups, team news
Despite his limited participation in preseason training, Ollie Watkins led the line for Villa but only lasted 62 minutes as Emery managed his game time. He will hope for longer against Arsenal.
Amadou Onana made his debut for the Villans against West Ham, and what a debut it was as he powerfully headed home to give his side the lead. He keeps his place in an unchanged lineup.
Aston Villa predicted XI (4-2-3-1, right to left): Martinez — Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne — Onana, Tielemans — Bailey, Rogers, McGinn — Watkins
Aston Villa subs: Gauci, Carlos, Maatsen, Nedeljkovic, Barkley, Buendia, Jaden, Ramsey, Duran.
Arteta said that Declan Rice was withdrawn against Wolves due to a cramp in his leg, but he is fit to start alongside Thomas Partey and Martin Odegaard in midfield.
Riccardo Calafiori has to wait for his first Premier League start as the Gunners boss sticks with his trusted partnership of Gabriel and William Saliba. Jurrien Timber gets the nod at left-back.
Arsenal predicted XI (4-3-3, right to left): Raya (GK) — White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber — Odegaard, Partey, Rice — Saka, Havertz, Martinelli
Arsenal subs: Ramsdale, Zinchenko, Kiwior, Calafiori, Jorginho, Nelson, Nwaneri, Trossard, Nketiah.
Aston Villa vs. Arsenal live stream, TV channel
Here's how to watch this Premier League match across selected areas of the world's major regions:
| Region | TV | Streaming |
| USA | USA Network | Fubo, Universo NOW, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo, NBC app/site, Peacock |
| Canada | — | Fubo Canada |
| UK | Sky Sports Main Event | Sky Go, NOW TV |
| Australia | Optus Sport | — |
| India | Star Sports Select 1 | Hotstar, JioTV |