Arsenal pay the price for Arteta’s Jesus gamble

Arsenal 0-2 Aston Villa (Bailey 84′, Watkins 87′)

EMIRATES STADIUM — A temporary blip or the beginning of the end of Arsenal’s latest title challenge?

Liverpool’s shock defeat to Crystal Palace earlier in the day provided Mikel Arteta’s side with added motivation they didn’t need but they failed to take advantage.

It capped a dream weekend for Manchester City who not only won their game but witnessed both of their title rivals slipping up on home turf. They have a two-point cushion with six games to go; Arsenal can’t afford to drop any more points and are relying on others to do them a favour. It’s an unenviable position to be in.

Villa were worthy winners and deserved immense credit for the courage they displayed. Initially, they set up to contain Arsenal, sitting deep and playing on the counter. It was a mark of respect to a team that has blown numerous teams away over the past few months.

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At half-time they realised that Arsenal lacked their normal precision in attack and composure in defence and so switched tack; they completely dominated the second half, having six shots to three and 59 per cent of the ball.

The Gunners looked jaded as though Tuesday’s arm wrestle against Bayern Munich had drained them of mental and physical energy. To which Villa can justifiably point out that they had their own tricky European encounter with Lille 48 hours later.

Everything was set up for Arsenal to maintain their momentum and yet they failed to grasp it. Inevitable questions over their fortitude and readiness to win the top prizes will resurface, but maybe this was a case of Arteta overthinking it.

When Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko joined Arsenal from City in 2022, they were seen as potential game-changers. Increasingly, they are becoming a problem.

Considering how dangerous Villa are, this seemed like an odd occasion for Arteta to tweak a winning formula and incorporate the pair in his starting line-up.

Kai Havertz has flourished as a centre-forward, not just providing goals and assists at a previously unforeseen rate, but also blossoming into an effective target man, link-man and game-stretching runner, all in one neat package.

The Germany international produced his best performance in an Arsenal shirt eight days ago at Brighton only to be moved back into midfield in the very next league game. He had a good chance early on but was otherwise far less effective than he has been lately.

Man of the match: John McGinn

• Dovetailed brilliantly with Youri Tielemans in midfield, providing graft and guile in equal measure.

It would be hard to denigrate Jesus based on a performance that was fine; the issue is how his deployment through the middle impacted the rest of the Arsenal attack. Bukayo Saka made a lively start but faded; Martin Odegaard was substituted after picking up a knock with the scores level; and neither Havertz nor Leandro Trossard contributed enough. It was a risky ploy from Arteta and one that backfired.

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Jorginho, meanwhile, was left out entirely. The veteran has been a distinguished presence in midfield, patrolling authoritatively in front of the back four and crucially giving Declan Rice the platform to drive from one box to the other. Arsenal especially missed his calmness in the second half when Villa gained the ascendancy.

Arteta will have hoped that Zinchenko would have offered similar support from left-back but it was a big ask considering the Ukrainian has struggled badly for form and confidence.

Zinchenko’s mistakes have been so frequent that his every error is greeted with a groan of frustration from the crowd, rather than a roar of encouragement. Picking him to play against speedy, skilful wingers – first Moussa Diaby and then the excellent Leon Bailey – was a recipe for disaster. He was fortunate to see a stunning Youri Tielemans effort hit both bar and post after gifting the Belgian the ball.

April was always likely to be a pivotal month for Arsenal, with a slew of matches to navigate. Arteta had to rest and rotate at some point, but doing so against Villa was a risk that may prove decisive. They are on the back foot to City in a title race. This ordinarily only ends one way.