Saka’s second-half strike at Villa Park wrapped up Arsenal’s second successive victory. In a statement of intent to their title rivals, Mikel Arteta’s side have taken maximum points from their opening two games without conceding a goal. It was the ideal way for Arteta to mark his 250th league game in charge of the Gunners.
Arsenal extended their flawless start to the Premier League season as Bukayo Saka sealed the champions’ 1-0 win against troubled Aston Villa on Monday. Arteta had picked the same starting line-up that cruised to a 3-0 win against Coventry in their season opener 10 days earlier.
Motivated in part by the need to keep in line with Premier League financial rules, Villa have ripped apart their Europa League-winning squad, selling Konsa, Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins, Emiliano Martinez, Lucas Digne and Youri Tielemans. In keeping with the sense of a club under renovation, one end of Villa Park was closed to fans on Monday due to building work to increase the capacity. Underlining the quality at Arteta’s disposal, England centre-back Ezri Konsa came off the bench in the closing stages for his Arsenal debut against his former club after leaving Villa in a £51 million ($69 million) move on August 21. Unai Emery’s team slumped to a 4-0 loss at Brighton in their opener in the midst of the club’s astonishing summer sale. Villa look a shadow of the vibrant team that ended their 30-year trophy drought last term, leaving Emery with a daunting job on his hands.
