Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal: 5 talking points as the Gunners pay for their errors | Premier League 2020-21

#3 Does Dean Smith get enough credit as a coach?

Does Dean Smith get enough credit for the job he's done at Villa?

Aston Villa’s improvement has long been noted during the current season, and most of the time, the credit tends to go to their recruitment. And indeed, Ollie Watkins, Bertrand Traore, Matty Cash, Ross Barkley, and Emiliano Martinez have had a tremendous effect.

However, does Aston Villa boss Dean Smith deserve more credit for the improvement of his other players? Villa stayed up by the skin of their teeth last season, largely due to Jack Grealish's brilliance.

And while Grealish has been outstanding again this season, Villa’s success has largely been built on their rock-solid defense. And three of those players – Tyrone Mings, Ezri Konsa, and Matt Targett – were all at the club last season. None of them looked as good as they do now.

The same could also be said for John McGinn and fringe players like Marvelous Nakamba – who was excellent today – and Trezeguet.

Aston Villa – along with West Ham – are clearly the Premier League’s most improved side this season. Maybe it’s time to give Smith, who is still largely unheralded, much more credit. He’s clearly one of the best coaches operating in the Premier League.

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#4 Arsenal still lack a cutting edge

Arsenal's frontline - like Alexandre Lacazette - lacked a cutting edge today.

This was the third time in a row that Aston Villa have defeated Arsenal, and it’s notable that in each of those games, the Gunners came away with more possession and a large number of shots on goal.

Today, Mikel Arteta’s side had 66% possession and 14 attempts. In November, it was 59% possession and 13 attempts. And back in July – when Villa were battling relegation – it was 69% possession and seven attempts.

Unfortunately for Arsenal fans, none of that domination led to a goal, and in fact, across all three games, the Gunners only managed five shots on target.

Arsenal’s goal total this season also tells its own story. Of the Premier League’s top 10, they are the only side to score less than 30 goals, with 27. Villa, for example, have actually scored nine more than them.

When you consider Arsenal’s attacking talents, with the likes of Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Willian, Nicolas Pepe, and Bukayo Saka, it’s simply not good enough.

Can the Gunners regain their cutting edge this season? They did seem to have done a few weeks ago, but right now, it appears like they’re lurching into another crisis.

One thing is for certain. If Arteta wants his side to escape mid-table purgatory this season, they’ll need to start scoring more goals, and soon.

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#5 Can Aston Villa qualify for Europe next season?

Aston Villa may well secure European football for the 2021-22 season.

Aston Villa – who only avoided relegation on the last day of the 2019-20 campaign – are now sitting in eighth place in the Premier League. A top-six spot usually guarantees Europa League football at worst. So can Aston Villa actually achieve this?

It seems crazy, but stranger things have happened. Firstly, with 21 games played, Aston Villa have a game in hand on five of the seven sides above them right now.

Granted, those games in hand are against Tottenham and Everton – who have similar ambitions – but would you really write Aston Villa off against either right now?

Sure, the Villans have lost eight games this season – more than all of the sides around them – but they’ve also won 11.

And more to the point, only Leeds United and West Ham United have been able to clearly outplay Aston Villa in those losses, with bad luck or poor refereeing contributing to their other defeats.

The other thing that Villa have on their side? Plenty of goals. Aston Villa now have 36 to their name and have only failed to find the net on three occasions this season.

Essentially, based on performances like today’s, you’d have to give Aston Villa as much chance as Tottenham, Everton, West Ham, and Chelsea. And for a side that nearly went down last season, that’s huge.