The captain barely impacted the game as his team threw away a lead to end up drawing on home soil
Aston Villa came from two goals down to earn a magnificent 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Saturday. After Leandro Trossard had set up Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz to give the hosts a deserved cushion, Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins popped up at the other end to earn Unai Emery's side a point and stun the Emirates Stadium into silence.
Amid their bright start, the Gunners came agonisingly close to getting an opener just nine minutes into the game. In typical fashion for the home team, the danger came from a corner and it was worked to Thomas Partey deep in the Villa box, but his shot sailed over the bar.
It took until the 34th minute for Mikel Arteta's men to break the deadlock. Martinelli reacted perfectly to Trossard's cross, getting in ahead of Ian Maatsen to get the ball over the line despite Emi Martinez's block. If that wasn't bad enough for Villa, they suffered another blow at the same time as Amadou Onana had to go off injured.
Trossard was the catalyst again as the Gunners made it 2-0 – this time he collected the ball and took his time up against Matty Cash before creating the space to send a deadly ball in for Havertz to volley in.
Less than five minutes later, though, Youri Tielemans got his head to a fantastic cross from substitute Lucas Digne to send it beyond Raya. The Belgian midfielder came close to tying it up a minute later but his shot hit the post. On both occasions, he left Mikel Merino scrambling – and failing – to stop him.
Villa weren't done there. In the 68th minute, Cash's cross flew just over Havertz's head and dropped to Watkins in loads of space at the back post to lash in the equaliser.
Arsenal pushed to regain their lead and thought they had won the game when Merino, who had been useless for much of the contest, sent the ball bouncing into the net, but VAR intervened to disallow the goal for a handball from Havertz. Merino came close yet again in stoppage time but ended up hitting the post and then Trossard fluffed his lines as he went through on goal.
Villa were able to hold on from there and collect a point, leaving Arsenal six behind a Liverpool team who boast a game in hand.
GOAL rates Arsenal's players from Emirates Stadium…
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David Raya (5/10):
A rather shaky performance despite one strong save in the first half.
Thomas Partey (5/10):
Gave Ollie Watkins a great chance when he sent a throw-in right into his path and then totally abandoned the Villa striker as the ball came in for the equaliser.
Jurrien Timber (7/10):
Looked sound in Saliba's place in the heart of the defence.
Gabriel Magalhaes (7/10):
Had huge responsibility on his shoulders with a much-changed backline but was solid up against the threat posed by Watkins.
Myles Lewis-Skelly (6/10):
Looked good on the left side of the defence and had a dangerous low cross cleared.
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Martin Odegaard (5/10):
A really tame performance from the club captain. His crosses were off and didn't do enough to spark Arsenal's attack into life.
Declan Rice (7/10):
Fantastic in his passing and fought for the ball as he took control of the midfield for much of the game.
Mikel Merino (5/10):
A quiet display as he barely added anything to the stability of the midfield until very late on when he had a goal disallowed and then hit the post.
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Gabriel Martinelli (7/10):
Took a while to become a proper threat despite getting into good positions for most of the first half, but he did so well to meet Trossard's cross and get the opener.
Kai Havertz (6/10):
Had a tough time getting on the ball and looked too slow for this one, but he didn't need pace to blast in that Trossard ball for his goal. Unfortunate the ball hit his arm to stop Merino claiming the winner.
Leandro Trossard (8/10):
Caused problems from the very beginning. Sent in deadly balls for both Martinelli and Havertz for the two Arsenal goals but should have scored the winner deep in stoppage time.
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Raheem Sterling (5/10):
Replaced Martinelli after 82 minutes and tried to find Odegaard but the captain was too slow to catch up to the ball.
Mikel Arteta (6/10):
Had a lot of absences to deal with but will have expected his team to see it out at 2-0 up. He waited until after 80 minutes to make a substitution even though Villa had pulled level and despite a strong finish, they couldn't get over the line.
