Aston Villa suffered a 1-0 loss in their first home game of the 2026/27 Premier League season, making it two defeats from two games to begin the campaign.
Unlike last week’s 4-0 hammering by Brighton though, there were plenty of encouraging aspects of Villa’s performance against the defending champions, as Villa competed well and made life difficult for Arsenal.
Here are two positives and one negative from Monday night’s game:
Nicolas Jackson’s lively debut
Having only signed days earlier, Jackson was straight into the starting lineup to make his debut at Villa Park and quickly showed many of the attributes which made him Unai Emery’s top target to replace Ollie Watkins.
He created some of Villa’s more promising moments in attack, firing a dangerous cross into the penalty area which no one could connect with, and feeding John McGinn later in the game for what may have been the clearest opening, although the captain was unable to get a shot away.
On multiple occasions he drove large distances with the ball to get the team up the pitch, did well to keep the ball under defensive pressure. He was also active out of possession, doing his best to harass the Arsenal defence and straining to win the ball back in the final third.
Considering he has only been at the club a matter of days, Jackson’s debut was hopefully a sign of what’s to come in a Villa shirt.
A more structurally sound Villa defence
After last week’s capitulation against Brighton, a competent, committed performance was the bare minimum expectation, and Villa did not disgrace themselves at all on Monday night, putting in a performance much more in keeping with what fans have come to expect from Emery’s team.
Pau Torres was back to his usual self after arguably his worst game for the club a week ago, and Villa’s defence showed more discipline, catching Arsenal offside multiple times and putting up a strong resistance, although they did eventually succumb to Bukayo Saka’s goal.
Ian Maatsen held his own against Saka on Villa’s left side and was a threat going forward, while Aaron Wan-Bissaka showed why they call him Spider during his cameo, making three sensational tackles.
In goal, Zion Suzuki had a strong debut, making two impressive reaction saves including in a difficult one-on-one situation and showing off his range of passing. He should be a real asset in possession under Emery.
It was nice not to see any blinking red lights in terms of Villa’s defence and general structure after the alarming nature of their defeat last week.
No shot on target again
For all of Villa’s endeavour, the stat that will stick with them is that they are the first team to fail to register a shot on target in each of their first two games since Swansea City in the 2017/18 season. They finished 18th and were relegated that season.
To be clear, that is not going to be Villa’s fate, and shots on target is an overrated team stat. Emi Buendia hitting the bar is more of a promising moment than if a Villa player had meekly rolled a shot at the goalkeeper from 25 yards out, just for the sake of having a shot on target.
However, it is clear it will take some time for Villa’s new-look attack to click. They managed to get into the kind of areas Emery wants pretty regularly, but the final pass was often missing.
This lack of cohesion was summed up by a moment in the first half when a potential counter attack fell flat, as Buendia looked to feed Jackson, who looked unsure which run to make. The two were not on the same page and Arsenal easily recovered the ball.
With Ibrahim Mbaye still to arrive, Johan Manzambi to return from injury and Alejandro Garnacho to acclimate after a disrupted preseason, Villa’s attack will look more threatening in the coming weeks as a group of new players gels together and Emery finds the right formula.
It is worth remembering Villa did not score a goal in the first five games last season with a squad which essentially carried over from the year before, and they turned out okay.
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