Page 2 - Arsenal 0-3 Aston Villa: 5 talking points as Arteta's side fall apart

#3 Did VAR rob Villa of their opening goal?

VAR ridiculously chalked off john McGinn's opener.

Aston Villa ended up beating Arsenal comfortably, but had the result gone Arsenal's way, Dean Smith’s side could’ve had reason to complain. They could well have been ahead after just 49 seconds, when John McGinn smashed a cut-back from Jack Grealish into the net.

On first view, there didn’t appear to be anything wrong with the goal. However, a VAR review decided to allow it because Ross Barkley had strayed offside. Simply put, this was an absolutely ludicrous call to make.

Not only was Barkley only a matter of centimeters off, but he wasn’t even involved in the move that created the goal. Instead, referee Martin Atkinson was told that the Chelsea loanee had blocked the view of Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno, and was thus advised to disallow the goal.

The issue with this was that McGinn’s shot was hardly a daisy-cutter. Barkley could’ve been transparent – allowing Leno a full view of events – and the Arsenal keeper would never have saved it. In fact, no goalkeeper in the world would’ve been capable of saving such a hard, accurate shot.

Essentially, this was everything wrong with VAR – the lack of common sense, the overly meticulous nature – distilled into a nutshell. If the system is going to work, something has to change.

#4 Can England really continue to ignore Jack Grealish?

Jack Grealish tormented Arsenal's defense throughout the game.

Prior to last month’s international break, Jack Grealish put on one of the performances of the 2020-21 season thus far when he tormented Liverpool’s defense during Aston Villa’s 7-2 win over the champions.

It led him to a start in England’s friendly game against Wales. And sure enough, the Villa captain assisted Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s goal and was declared Man of the Match. Somehow though, it wasn’t enough for England boss Gareth Southgate, who left him benched for the two competitive games against Belgium and Denmark.

Since then, Grealish’s form hasn’t dropped. He’s been largely fantastic, even when Villa lost two recent games. And tonight was yet another top-class performance from him. He tortured Arsenal’s defense every time he got the ball, and his run – from inside his own half – to create Ollie Watkins’ second goal was sensational.

So can Southgate really continue to ignore such a talented player, even if he doesn’t necessarily fit into the system England have been using? In all honesty, it’d be insane to do so. Grealish now has four goals and five assists in his seven Premier League games – close to Harry Kane’s levels in terms of English players.

There can be no excuses from Southgate now. Grealish has earned a competitive start for England, and if he isn’t given it, something’s very wrong.

#5 Arsenal looked exhausted by the end of the game

Arsenal looked out of energy and ideas tonight.

This was a tremendous showing from Aston Villa, but much less so for Arsenal. However, it wasn’t just his side’s lack of creativity that should have Mikel Arteta worrying after tonight’s game. Simply put, Arsenal – particularly in the second half – looked exhausted.

Their players didn’t win enough second balls against Villa’s hungrier squad. They gave the ball away cheaply on plenty of occasions, and even their dangerous attackers like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette struggled.

Some of the players – Aubameyang, Willian, and Bukayo Saka in particular – even looked worryingly disinterested. When you take into account that this was the same side that beat Manchester United last week, it’s hard to understand quite what went wrong.

One reason that could be suggested is that the Gunners are struggling for consistency due to their Europa League campaign. However, Arteta only started two of the players who faced Molde on Thursday – Willian and keeper Bernd Leno.

So perhaps something more is afoot here. After the game, Arteta stated that the performance was not acceptable, and it’s hard not to agree with him. After almost a year in charge, the Spaniard still hasn’t quite righted the ship at the Emirates. One must only wonder how long it’ll actually take.