Arsenal won at Villa Park with one goal and no alarms. Bukayo Saka finished from very close range on 59 minutes, put in by Riccardo Calafiori, and that was the night. Aston Villa had seven shots and none of them were on target.
A goalkeeper with nothing to do
Two matches into the season Arsenal have conceded no goals at all: 3-0 against Coventry and this. Villa managed as many efforts as Arsenal did tonight, seven each, and could not force a save. That is the difference between having the ball in the right areas and having it at all.
Arsenal took 60.8 percent of the possession and completed 462 passes to 272. Villa's answer was to foul, seventeen times to Arsenal's six, and to take three bookings for it.
Saka decided it, again
Calafiori's pass and Saka's finish is the sort of goal Arsenal have built a title defence on, and it came from the left back who has been converted into a third centre back at times this season.
The eight offsides against Arsenal say something about how they played: repeatedly in behind, repeatedly early, and only once at the right moment.
Both benches told a transfer story
Nicolas Jackson started for Villa, five days after his move from Chelsea in a deal worth up to £65 million, and was taken off on 71 for Tammy Abraham. Alejandro Garnacho came on for Ross Barkley on 78, in the same week the club sold Ollie Watkins to Al-Hilal and are close to losing Emiliano Martínez.
Arsenal's changes were as expensive: Eberechi Eze on at half time, Bruno Guimarães and Mikel Merino on 71, Martín Zubimendi for Declan Rice on 85. Bruno Guimarães, £75 million from Newcastle in the summer, is currently a substitute in Arsenal's midfield.
What they have not got
Arsenal spent the window selling forwards. Gabriel Martinelli went to Al-Hilal for around £56.5 million, Gabriel Jesus to Barcelona for a €10 million package on Saturday, and the Julián Álvarez pursuit is still unresolved with hours left. Three clean sheets and five goals scored says the shape holds. It does not say what happens when a match needs a centre forward off the bench.
Mikel Arteta will take six points from six and the small matter of Real Madrid at home in the Champions League next.
