Arsenal suffered a 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa in the Premier League.
The Gunners were second-best from the start. They looked nothing like their usual selves and deservedly went a goal down in the first half.
The start of the second period was much better, and Leandro Trossard scored to level the game. However, the problems from the first half returned, and that allowed Villa to go on and win the game.
Mikel Arteta was frustrated with his side’s performance after the defeat, but he felt that two players had a good game – Piero Hincapie and Jurrien Timber.
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Mikel Arteta says Jurrien Timber and Piero Hincapie were ‘exceptional’
Injuries have caused serious damage to Arsenal’s backline.
The Gunners first lost Gabriel Magalhaes to an adductor injury when he was on international duty with the Brazil national team.
Then, William Saliba suffered a knock in training ahead of the game against Chelsea and has now missed three games in a row.
To make things worse, Cristhian Mosquera is now ruled out for the rest of this year after suffering an injury against Brentford.
That forced Arteta to deploy Timber next to Hincapie in the heart of Arsenal’s defence, which is their sixth different partnership this season.
Against Aston Villa, the Gunners conceded two goals in a single game for just the second time this term, but their manager was still full of praise for Timber and Hincapie.
He said, as per Arsenal.com: ” Obviously, we know what those two [Gabriel and Saliba] bring, especially in a game like this.
“But the other two [Hincapie and Timber], I think they were exceptional as well today.”
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Defence was not the reason why Arsenal lost to Aston Villa
When you concede two goals and lose a game, people usually point the finger at the defenders, but they are not to blame for the defeat.
Arsenal’s players all looked really tired, which is understandable because they have played five games in the last 13 days.
Three of those fixtures were against Tottenham, Bayern Munich and Chelsea, and facing Aston Villa, who are brilliant, after such an intense period was never going to be easy.
Arsenal would’ve fared much better if players had more rest, but they can’t complain now.
Arteta and his men will have to accept the defeat, learn from their mistakes and focus on bouncing back against Club Brugge in the Champions League midweek.
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