{"id":756087,"date":"2026-08-31T23:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T23:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/756087\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T23:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T23:38:11","slug":"saka-settles-gruelling-battle-with-aston-villa-to-extend-arsenals-winning-start-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/756087\/","title":{"rendered":"Saka settles gruelling battle with Aston Villa to extend Arsenal\u2019s winning start | Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

The smile on Declan Rice\u2019s face with six minutes of normal time remaining said it all. He had just shut down Ian Maatsen as the Aston Villa<\/a> full-back zoomed into the box. Arsenal, for whom Bukayo Saka scored the only goal, were authoritative and seemingly took great satisfaction in keeping Villa at arm\u2019s length.<\/p>\n

Unai Emery\u2019s work\u2011in\u2011progress side struggled to test the champions, David Raya untroubled. The records will show Villa have lost their first two league matches of a season without scoring for the first time since 2002 but, despite successive defeats, this time there was no capitulation.<\/p>\n

For Villa, this was a marked improvement on defeat at Brighton in their opener. After 31 minutes in their previous game, they trailed 4-0 and after 40 were down to 10 men.<\/p>\n

Here they could take plenty of encouragement from a promising if not fruitless performance, the debutants Zion Suzuki and Nicolas Jackson impressing, having taken the No 1 and No 11 shirts vacated by Emiliano Mart\u00ednez and Ollie Watkins respectively. Suzuki and Jackson were the only changes to Villa\u2019s starting XI but they appeared far more cohesive. Suzuki\u2019s eye for a pass was particularly noticeable, pinging 50-yard passes to George Hemmings, the 19-year-old who kept his place, and John McGinn within a few minutes of each other.<\/p>\n

Emi Buend\u00eda smacked the crossbar after Boubacar Kamara overawed Christos Tzolis \u2013 Martin \u00d8degaard subsequently asked questions of the referee, Jarred Gillett \u2013 but Jackson otherwise created Villa\u2019s best opening. The Senegal forward, who worked under Emery at Villarreal, pinched possession from Gabriel Magalh\u00e3es a few yards into the Villa half and galloped into the other before sending a near-perfect cross in from the right. Hemmings burst into the six-yard box but was unable to convert. Villa are just the second team to fail to register a shot on target in their first two Premier League<\/a> matches in a season since 2003-04, along with Swansea City in 2017-18.<\/p>\n

This fixture last season ended in despair for Arsenal<\/a>, their players splayed across the turf after Buend\u00eda\u2019s 95th-minute winner with the last kick of the game. Arteta said that defeat still haunts him and reminded his players as much before this game. \u201cThat was still in my tummy and I spoke to my players about it, the image of the players on the floor, totally gutted,\u201d the Arsenal manager said. \u201cWe used that [as inspiration].\u201d<\/p>\n

Zion Suzuki, Aston Villa\u2019s new goalkeeper, applauds the home fans after the final whistle. Photograph: Catherine Ivill\/AMA\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

In that game last season Eberechi Eze was at fault for Matty Cash\u2019s opener and was subsequently hooked at half-time. Here it was a case of role\u2011reversal, Eze shining after coming on for the second half in place of Christos Tzolis, who was booked after a foul on Cash and muted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he learnt a lesson,\u201d Arteta said of Eze, who was involved in Arsenal seizing the lead approaching the hour. Arsenal slowed things down and then punished Villa for switching off. Cristhian Mosquera pushed a pass to Eze, who was afforded space by Cash, Villa\u2019s defender concerned about an unmarked Riccardo Calafiori. Eze promptly spied Calafiori\u2019s underlapping run and the Italian steered the ball across the six-yard box where Saka beat Maatsen to the punch and scrambled the cross into the net.<\/p>\n

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This is a new-look Villa, on and off the pitch. A handful of staff in hard hats were positioned in the closed North Stand moonlighting as ball boys; the corner of rubble between the remaining skeleton and the Trinity Road Stand remains akin to an excavation site. Ibrahim Mbaye, whose \u00a347m move from Paris Saint\u2011Germain is to be announced on Tuesday, was in the directors\u2019 box. Taylor Harwood-Bellis is also poised to sign in a \u00a325m deal from Southampton. Six of Villa\u2019s starting XI from their Europa League triumph may have departed but Emery has made no complaints and has relayed his no-excuses mantra to his squad. \u201cWe do not look backwards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Villa\u2019s frustrations were palpable. McGinn, in a hurry to get Villa level, was booked for wiping out Merino. Aaron Wan-Bissaka replaced Cash for his Villa debut and his first job was to stretch his legs to muffle an advancing Eze. Alejandro Garnacho entered in place of Ross Barkley. Arteta introduced Ezri Konsa for his debut, adding further steel.<\/p>\n

Villa could not find a way through and Arsenal\u2019s winning habit already appears ominous. \u201cIt is painful to lose,\u201d Emery said. \u201cBut we can feel optimistic with how we competed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The smile on Declan Rice\u2019s face with six minutes of normal time remaining said it all. He had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":756088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-756087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}