Aston Villa walked away from the Emirates with three points against Arsenal, seeing a host of praise showered in the direction of one of Unai Emery’s top performers on the day.
Unai Emery taught his former club a lesson on Sunday afternoon as Aston Villa beat Arsenal 2-0 in the Premier League to well and truly shake up the title race.
The Villans not only changed the shape of the top of the table but the top four also, climbing above Tottenham to reclaim fourth place in what was a valiant display from the Midlands club.
It was a game of two halves for the visitors, who had to be patient as the Gunners pressured before the interval, with Emery’s half-time team talk proving to be vital to Villa’s second-half display.
Goals just three minutes apart from Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins derailed Arsenal’s title hopes, with both scorers finishing expertly to determine the direction of the points.
While the scorers will earn the headlines, one Villa star’s performance should not be overlooked, as Nicolo Zaniolo earned a host of praise for his display against the Gunners.
Nicolo Zaniolo was praised heavily for his influence against Arsenal
Making only his ninth start of the Premier League campaign, the Italy international was a livewire throughout for Villa, showing his maturity to test Arsenal both in attack and when supporting defensively.
The 24-year-old’s time at Villa has been far from easy so far however, many sung his praises after today’s result, with Emery himself applauding the Galatasaray loanee’s performance.
As relayed by journalist John Townley, the manager said:
“The beginning of the season for him was very difficult. Two months ago something changed. He trained more and better, focusing on each match too. We needed him, I told him this before.”
The boss wasn’t alone in his praise for Zaniolo, as Townley himself had a lot to say of his display, awarding him a 7/10 rating in his BirminghamLive ratings.
“Impressed in the first half as he put himself about and combined well with Rogers in the final third. This was Zaniolo’s best performance in a Villa shirt.”
During the game, the left-sided midfielder, who had the job of facing Ben White and Bukayo Saka, was lauded by BBC Sport pundit Danny Gabbidon.
“Zaniolo’s ball retention has been really good. Whenever Aston Villa have tried to get out of pressure, they have looked for him and he has done really well on the ball.”
Nicolo Zaniolo will want to build on his display against Arsenal
Averaging just 35 minutes per game in the Premier League this season, it was a rare opportunity for Zaniolo to show his worth, in what has been a fairly underwhelming campaign for the loanee.
While the Italian wasn’t a scorer or creator of a goal, his general influence was traceable by many, and reinforced by his statistics, as provided by Sofascore.
- Minutes played: 80
- Touches: 44
- Key passes: 1
- Ground duels won: 5
- Aerial duels won: 100%
- Tackles: 2
Time is running out for the Italy international to impose himself at Villa in terms of a potential long-term stay however, as echoed by Townley, if he is to leave in the summer, his display against Arsenal should be remembered.
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