Could this be the pivotal weekend for the title race? After seeing Liverpool lose to Crystal Palace, many thought Arsenal would go on to get three points at the Emirates, taking them to the top of the tree.
However their old friend Unai Emery had something in store for them, producing a 2-0 victory, and possibly scuppering the Gunners title hopes in the process. But just how did he and his Villa side achieve this?
NEGATING THE PRESS
This image shows what Unai Emery's build up strategy was, and we saw this come to fruition in the second half against the Gunners.
Aston Villa split their centre backs in build up, forcing the two Arsenal forwards (in a 4-4-2 press) to be further apart.
This would cause the Arsenal midfield two (Declan Rice + Kai Havertz) to jump up and support the press, leaving space for Morgan Rodgers and Ollie Watkins to drop into.
Villa set out with this game plan from the beginning, but a lack of executing balls between the lines, and a lack of courage stopped them in their tracks.
However in the second half, Watkins said after the game that Emery had told them to be brave on the ball, and find the passes into that area.
This meant one or both of the Arsenal central defenders had to jump up and close down the receiver, then creating space in behind for combination play.
Eventually, Villa started to find joy from this, and Arsenal softened their high press, falling into more of a mid block, where Emery's men were able to get a better foot hold of the game, take over control and eventually find the goals.
Arteta made the right subs, just at the wrong time. By bringing Jorginho into the game, it would allow one midfielder to stay tighter to the receiver in zone 14 areas (blue box from previous image)
Whilst allowing Rice to back up the press with Havertz (playing upfront) and Martin Odegaard - forming more of a 4-1-4-1 high press, dropping into a 4-5-1 mid block at times.
Whilst this tweak doesn't negate the overload for Aston Villa in deep areas (thus allowing them to still get on the ball and probe), it allows Arsenal to cover territory better with Rice and Odegaard behind Havertz in the press (their best asset this season in my opinion, making them the best out of possession team in the world), and gives them an extra controller on the ball (Jorginho) for ball circulation.
ARTETA'S INITIAL PLAN
It is important to note, Arteta's original game plan wasn't a bad one, and we saw in the first half Arsenal create chances from their left hand side, and the importance of Havertz in that left central midfield role.
Villa playing in their high line, a compact 4-4-2, makes it hard to play through, but does open itself up to more direct balls in behind. Arteta looked to isolate Leandro Trossard out wide with Ezri Konsa, opening up space for Havertz to run beyond and into the channel left between Konsa and Diego Carlos.
Konsa was struggling to know when to go with Trossard, and when to sit off in the channel (to stop Havertz's runs) which led to Diego Carlos making some extremely important challenges, and eventually winning MOTM due to this importance early on.
However as the game went on, Villa continued to bait the Arsenal press, and due to further instruction started to play the slightly riskier passes between the lines, finding the space between the midfield and defensive lines.
As we said, this later caused Arsenal to drop off in their press, which from this point gave Villa a more controllable environment in the game, with the introduction of Leon Bailey proving pivotal in the deciding moments.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I believe Arteta's initial plan made a lot of sense, and if they had found the goal in the first half, it's a completely different game.
However Emery's side was able to execute their game plan to a much better effect in the second half, dragging Arsenal out of possession, exploiting the lone pivot role of Declan Rice and gaining control in the game.
Arteta's Jorginho sub came too late to change these dynamics, and now we could be looking at one of the most pivotal results in this title race, with seven games to go.