Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Fulham
Leeds United
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
News
Alan Shearer impressed by ‘unbelievable’ Arsenal player against Aston Villa
Arsenal continued their Premier League title charge with a 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon.
Billed as the game of the Premier League weekend, Arsenal avoided the same mistake they made last season and picked up a vital three points from Villa Park.
After a hard-fought first half, Arsenal stepped up a gear after the break and snatched a win with goals from Leandro Trossard and Thomas Partey.
Aston Villa beat the Gunners 1-0 in the same fixture last season, but this time Mikel Arteta’s side avoided slipping up.
However, it may have turned out very differently for Arsenal if it wasn’t for a spectacular reaction save made by David Raya in the first half.
The Spaniard, who joined Arsenal permanently for £27million this summer, denied Ollie Watkins from close range after Amadou Onana’s deflected shot rebounded off the crossbar.
It’s too early to crown it the save of the season, but it’s certainly difficult to see it being topped.
Alan Shearer on David Raya vs Aston Villa
Arteta has had to make some ruthless decisions in his journey to making Arsenal title contenders, and that was certainly the case when he dropped Aaron Ramsdale for David Raya.
The English shot-stopper had hardly put a foot wrong, but Arteta pushed forward with Raya being his first-choice goalkeeper and it is a decision that is now paying off.
While Raya made his show-stopping save against Villa, Ramsdale is in talks with Southampton over a potential move away.
Shearer was full of praise for Raya on , “I mean, we talked about David Raya last week producing a magnificent save at 1-0. This was at 0-0 today.
“His reaction, David Raya, in terms of hitting the bar and getting up quickly and getting that strong hand there, but he has got so much to aim at Ollie Watkins, doesn’t he?
“Does really well in there, he follows it up, puts it a yard to his left-hand side – that reaction is unbelievable.”
Premier League title will be decided by small margins
Arsenal know better than most that the Premier League title will be decided by small moments like this.
After dropping points here last season, it was a statement victory by Arsenal on Saturday and Raya played a huge part in that win.
Arteta’s decision has been well and truly justified, and with Gabriel and William Saliba also in top form, it’s hard to argue against Arsenal having the best defence in the Premier League.