Arsenal were beaten by the last kick of the game at Villa Park, as Unai Emery haunted Mikel Arteta once again.
The Arsenal manager has lost more games than he’s won against Emery, whose Aston Villa side left it late on matchday 15.
Emiliano Buendia scored the match-winner with seconds remaining in stoppage time, handing the Gunners only their second Premier League defeat of the season.
It’s back to the drawing board for Arteta as early pressure in the title race mounts, but his biggest peeve might be how Emery was able to get the better of him once again.
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Arteta’s Arsenal have played against an Emery side eight times in all competitions, including when the Spaniard was at Villarreal.
Out of those eight meetings, Arteta has only emerged victorious twice, with it abundantly clear that the former Arsenal boss knows how to get the better of his compatriot.
Interestingly, Matty Cash revealed one tactic that Emery used to exploit Arsenal, speaking to Aston Villa’s official website after the match.
“It’s what we spoke about, to be fair. In the first half as well, having John (McGinn) a little bit more inside and then me on the overlap,” Cash said.
“There was a chance I had right before as well, that I maybe could’ve done a bit better. I just saw it and hit it first time. It was nice.”
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The Poland international was referring to how he’d been instructed to get in the box behind Arsenal’s full-back to cause problems, something that certainly paid off.
In the 36th minute, Cash opened the scoring by getting in behind Eberechi Eze, who was poor against Villa, attacking the left side, where he evidently saw gaps to expose.
Not the first time that Riccardo Calafiori has been targeted
It wasn’t only Eze who was humiliated by Cash, but Riccardo Calafiori too, who had a tough outing at left-back at Villa Park.
Though Calafiori’s stark drop in standard might’ve been a shock, Arteta might not’ve been too surprised that it was the left side that Villa targeted.
That’s because it was only two games ago that Arteta believed Calafiori was targeted against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, after he picked up a yellow card.
For all of the Italian’s strengths, teams clearly see a weakness in his defensive work, with Cash the latest to raise questions.
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