Arsenal lost further ground on Liverpool in the title race, letting a two-goal lead slip to draw 2-2 with Aston Villa.
There were more injuries for Mikel Arteta to deal with ahead of the game with William Saliba ruled out with a muscular injury. That meant Jurrien Timber featured at centre-back for the first time, with Thomas Partey moving to right-back.
Gabriel Martinelli gave Arsenal a deserved lead with 10 minutes of the first half remaining and it looked like being a unusually comfortable evening when Kai Havertz made it 2-0 10 minutes after the break. But Youri Tielemans pulled one back on the hour and eight minutes later Ollie Watkins made it 2-2.
Arsenal briefly thought they had scored a late winner, but VAR ruled it out for a Havertz handball, leaving Arsenal six points behind Arne Slot’s leaders, having played a game more.
Jordan Campbell and Liam Tharme break down the key talking points from the game.
Why was Arsenal’s late goal ruled out?
Kai Havertz has been out of luck in recent weeks, missing glorious chances in the two cup defeats to Newcastle and Manchester United. He thought the universe was looking down on him when he turned in Mikel Merino’s shot in the 90th minute to rescue the three points for Arsenal, but VAR quickly overturned it for a handball.
In real time it looked like it had ricocheted off his hip to wrong-footed Emi Martinez but replays showed that it hit his arm. After exploding with joy, the Emirates was left dejected.
#ARSAVL – 88’ VAR OVERTURN
The Arsenal goal was awarded on-field. The VAR established that the ball hit Havertz’s arm immediately before entering the goal and recommended that the goal was disallowed.
— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) January 18, 2025
Rather their fortunes in front of goal turning, this was another day when Arsenal looked curse. Leandro Trossard missed a glorious chance at the very end of the game which reduced Arteta to his knees as Arsenal’s struggle to find late winners, something they did so well last season, continues.
There were a smattering of boos at full-time but an eerie silence descended on the stadium at full-time.
Jordan Campbell
Arsenal’s lack of depth exposed
It only took one look at the team sheet before the match to feel that Arsenal would need to get the job done with the players that were starting the game.
Injuries to Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Ethan Nwaneri have stripped Mikel Arteta of forwards but it was still staggering to see so few options. Raheem Sterling, who has failed to make an impact since joining on loan, was the only senior forward, with teenagers Ismeal Kabia and Nathan Butler-Oyedeji filling the bench. There was not even an attacking midfielder to choose from, whereas Villa could bring on Leon Bailey, Emiliano Buendia, Donyell Malen and Jhon Duran.
It is why, even when Arsenal let their two-goal lead slip, Arteta resisted turning to his bench until Sterling came on for Martinelli with eight minutes remaining. Who can blame him?
Jorginho can help dictate play but he is not a game changer and the only other established first-team players were Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jakub Kiwior and Kieran Tierney, who had to come on at left wing to see out victory against Spurs.
The need for attacking reinforcements has never been illustrated more clearly.
Jordan Campbell
What now for the title race?
As Liverpool toiled to find a goal at Brentford, there was a sense that today could be the day that the title race took its first decisive swing in Arsenal’s favour. That changed when Darwin Nunez scored a late double to put Liverpool seven points clear.
So the pressure was back on Arsenal to keep pace against an Aston Villa side that cost them the title last season, beating them home and away. Arsenal were unbeaten in their last 13 Premier League home games since that 2-0 defeat to Unai Emery’s side in April and unbeaten in the eleven since Martin Odegaard returned in October, but only wins will be enough to catch Liverpool.
One of Arsenal’s issues has been not killing games when they go ahead. Usually that has been when defending 1-0 leads as they have been pegged back at that scoreline five times this season but when Kai Havertz scored to make it 2-0 it looked like they had done enough
(Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
However, Arsenal somehow lost control of the game and conceded twice in eight minutes. Mikel Merino thought he had scored the winner in the 90th minute but it was ruled out for handball and he also saw shot struck the post in stoppage time.
Arsenal had to start putting together the sort of run that saw them be almost perfect in the second half of last season but two more dropped points, their eighth draw of the season, leaves them with a lot of ground to make up. There have been red cards to point to in the other games but this result was of their own making.
Jordan Campbell
Lewis-Skelly shines again
Settling in from academy to first-team level is a process that can take years, but Myles Lewis-Skelly looks to have done it in just a matter of matches. The 18-year-old, fresh off excelling in the north London derby in midweek, put in another strong performance with a particularly tough defensive task — keeping Morgan Rogers quiet.
The Villa No 10 has wreaked havoc on opposition midfields all season, and was the target of Emi Martinez’s goal-kicks against Arsenal. The focus was to go over the press, learning from Tottenham’s mistakes in midweek, and exploit Rogers’ aerial advantage over Lewis-Skelly. However, the Arsenal academy graduate defended excellently, scrapping well against Rogers and winning some fouls when he picked up second balls too (and escaped the No 10).
(Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Winning six of his eight ground duels and completing 37 of 40 passes was another indication of Lewis-Skelly’s ability to play both parts of the game. He frequently popped up as a second No 6 next to Declan Rice, as well as playing high-and-wide too. He should have ended the game with an assist, after an excellent reverse pass in added time put Trossard through on the angle, only for the Belgium international to shoot wide.
It was a disappointing day overall, but Hale End has another star.
Liam Tharme
What did Mikel Arteta say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What next for Arsenal?
Wednesday, January 22: Dinamo Zagreb (H), Champions League, 8pm GMT, 3pm ET
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(Header photo: Getty Images)
