Third time lucky and fully deserverd: Arsenal 0 Aston Villa 2
Saturday, 15 November 08, 04:40 PM · Comments (101)
Nobody played badly today but Gabby is my man of the match as he scored both the goals and took them both extremely well and playing 4-5-1, in my opinion, suits him.
The first came from an Ashley Young cross and he hit it in with his head, his second came with ten minutes to go and it was on the break as Arsenal were chasing the game - he slotted it past the Arsenal keeper with real composure.
Bottom line is we beat Arsenal today because we were the better team and we played better football. We beat them in midfield by matching their five and defensively we were immense.
I said in my match prediction that this game would be won for us by the likes of Ashley Young and Gabby and it was. Young missed a penalty which is just unlucky but he set up the first and had more shots than I had beers during the match.
Gabby was just excellent as was everyone to be honest. The only concern would be on the crossing of Milner, but I'm not going to harp on about that now, as today is about enjoying the moment.
Everyone gets an eight today apart from Milner who gets a seven and Gabby who gets a nine. Media view tomorrow as usual and anyone that wants to put forward some player ratings in the forum may get a mention.
Aston Villa: Friedel, L Young, Davies, Laursen, Cuellar, Sidwell, Barry, Petrov, Milner, A Young, Agbonlahor. Subs: Guzan, Knight, Harewood, Salifou, Gardner, Reo-Coker, Carew.
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101 Comments · Add yours
AND ITS ASTON VILLA, ASTON VILLA FC, WERE BY FAR THE GREATEST TEAM THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN
Bring on Manure
Taglor?
Vogra?
And don't forget to wipe your arsenal !!!!!
Brilliant day!
Agree we were easily the better team.
Was worried as Almunia was having a cracker but ... well ...
Gabby Gabby Gabby Gabby Gabby Agbonlahoooooooooor
Can't wait for MOTD
Wow, that has to be the best Villa have played in a long while. The back 4 was immense, very solid in midfield and gabby and ash showed they belong in the England team today. Can't fault anyone, even Milner and Barry played well today. I really think we're a better team without Reo-Coker and Shorey, who just won't cut it against the big boys. UTV!!!!!
Happy Days! Gabby you the Man. Heading to the Holte End next weekend to see us finally turn over Manure. I'll be pissing my pants all week in anticipation. UTV
should get a look in on motd this week cuz we played a london club!
i nder whether the so called espert panel will still sya the only team to have any chance at breaking the top four will be spuds. the people on that programme are tossers and should be scaked like jon ross and that hairy comedian.
anyway well played lads. i wonder what people will say if we turn over manure??
great team performance,great coverage on espn!!!!!!!,first was an own goal by clichy
superb result. Did Gabby get credit for the first? Probably agreee about Milner being a bit below everyone else, lost possession too easily and never really looked like getting past his man, anyway he will come good.
Agree all 8's, except Gabby, Laursen and Davies 9
Defence done very well. Although Sidwell should of had a couple he always looks dangerous, he will be a Villa legend
I have been critical of MoN over the past few games so credit were credit is due - villa were exceptional. If it had ended 0-0 i would have said it was our best performance under o'neill. Now I would say its our best performancec and result!!
I think it should be noted the difference that Petrov makes to us. Also, delighted that Reo-Coker was dropped - we seemed to hold the ball so much better without him.
And finally as someone who has always backed Gabby - i hope this finally shuts the doubters up. This guy is the most talented player at the club. That was Gallas who he destroyed for the clincher!!!
eoin1981
we are bewtter with petrov over reo-coker ..
maybe people might start to see what sidwell brings to the table also - cards on table - the three central midfielders were all excellent today
BRILLIANT PERFORMANCE for the entire 94 mins
Today arsenal were no match for the mighty villa
Everybody played well but really it should have been 0-5 in the 1st half we dominated which was very surprising I didnt do a match prediction this week on here for the simple reason i thought it come go either way, but today we were class and took all the points away from home again
I would take a draw for the united game now if i could because 4 out of 6 aint bad
Why cant we play like this every week believe me it doesn't get better than this........well done villa
yeah - as an Arsenal supporter, I have to say through my teeth, well played. Agbo had a great game. Good team performance.
outplayed em
Holy crap that was fantastic. What a performance. It only makes the previous losses hurt more. But so what. The Champions League challenge is back on track!
wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo one word fellas immense
i dont want to put a dampner on things but where would be if the boro stoke and newcastle games had a gone the way as "expected"
Great comeback after last weeks shambles, lets get VP rocking next week and see if we can get at least a point from Manure.
What a frickin great day.
My lads Birthday
Villa beat the Arse
Sold my car
My second team Barnsley come from behind to win
Sheff Utd lost..!
Shit head little ferret boyfriend of our daughter dumped her. Thank god for that...! Good riddance to shit..!
So all in all a bloody good day..!
UTV
yeah right wel done villa ermmmm how much did it cost to bribe the ref?
on both goals our players were fouled well done villa yeh well fucking done grrr
get in there . great result
Fantastic AA! My beer to try and survive the end has become a celebratory one. Oh what a magnificient day!
Later im goin up town to get wasted and talk shit all night long about villa happy dayz
Reply to __AA__:
and i thought my day was good i am so happy for u. Haye to win tonight and my day is also complete
Great result!!! This is the best mood I've been in for a long while!
The work rate and professionalism was fantastic from everyone today. Even the own goal was well earned. Lovely.
Damien
agree 100% about Sidwell.
_AA_ that is one brave lad to go out with your daughter!
She's scarier than I am keef....!
Fucking yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees! What a performance. Sidwell was immense.
AA, what's the connection with Barnsley? They're my second team too.
I'm a Barnsley lad born and bred No5
Cool, I've been to Oakwell on a number of occasions (I'm from Wakefield). Gerry Taggart was a legend. Great to see Leeds choke today, too.
Reply to jay:
Any more gooners want to have a moan??? lol
The villa were stronger and better today, not dirtier!
The best result in our PL history. I have said under MON we hoof, though Gab's goal was route 1 (no doubt Wenger will say it was a foul on their player before Laursen's punt upfield) Sidwell's ball winning and floor passing was great to see. Hope MON starts to teach them passing in training cos Sidwell will slide rule Gabby in all day.
I think we played like we did in the 1st half @St James' - created chances, defence clearing opposition balls in for fun, and like then we should've easily been 2 up at half time. Difference? 2nd half midfield kept their work rate up and we SCORED. Just show's how important it is to convert when you're dominating.
MON - keep the midfield passing. NRC great battler but ball retention is zero which puts pressure on us. Petrov, Barry and Sidwell is a midfield trio good enough to create chances and keep the ball.
Finally, Gab's finish top draw, held of Gallas too. I always think Gab's great at finishing when he hits it first time because thinking is not his strong point.
What an absolutely fantastic result! We played superbly today and definitely deserved the victory, although when all those chances in the first half went begging I started to worry that it wouldn't be our day! We were solid throughout today - hats off to so many players (watched the game on ESPN stream) - Young, Gabby, all of the defense - to be fair, everyone was good, most were great!
Oh yes!
i'm proud to be a Villan!
Well done lads, a great performance. Have to disagree with you again over Milner tho Damian, worked his socks off and fully deserves his place over reo-joker.
I didnt fancey our chances today but a chuffed with the result.Cnt dwell on the games we have lost look where Arsenal could be if they said the same.
Reply to jay:
Why would you care how much it costs to bribe a ref? It's not like you could afford it, with Wenger basically admitting that you're a selling club
I thought the ref had a good game today and anything he may have missed he missed because he can't replay and slow things down in his head. I'd have to see the build up to the second goal again but first time through it looked fine, and if he got that wrong then he also missed Gallas running in to clear Young's penalty before the kick was taken. The ref isn't superhuman. I think he had a superb game. We out-fought, played and battled Arsenal today.
I agree with those saying we keep the ball better with this midfield rather than Reo Coker, although Reo coker has played well this year I'd leave him out for next week if we can play this side again.
Sam...3-1...Have you been on K mi ol mucka..?
AA, that ring any bells mate?? lol
What a gr8 day to be a Villain!
wot is sidwell going 2 b like when hes properly settled in great result draw against man u and who nos wot will happen in the new year with money well spent were going places so were are all the knockers now . going 2 down a few guiness tonite now.VILLA THE ONE AND ONLY
I was thinking that Sam as I saw the score go 2-0. I would rather have your prediction than mine any day mate. Go into the lounge, need a quick chat..
I'm still buzzing
I love football !!!
Jay the Arsenal fan - Gallas is a wimp
superb performance, Milner the only bad link. Looking forward to Man Utd.
Wenger on the BBC: 'Well, errrr, I thought the second goal was a foul. But Aston Villa were the better team today.'
MON on the BBC: 'We were terrific today. Absolutely brilliant,'
Garth Crooks and Martin Keown on the BBC. Just...why?
Funny that, Taglor and Vogra not showing the usual urgency in coming on here spewing the usual crap.
Says it all.
Fantastic result, up the Villa!
What did I say about knee-jerk moaning last week?
Brilliant performance, brilliant result. No coincidence that as soon as Petrov is back we return to winning ways.
Now we just have to beat United and I will finally have total bragging rights over all my glory hunting mates!
jay, get over it.
This season we're gonna nick your Champions League spot
Had a feeling that we could get a positive result today with Stan back. After finally settling in at VP i think he could be instrumental for us this season.
Great performance.
Great result.
Top drawer lads.
Reply to jay:
behave.. we outplayed you today. simple as.
I can't wait to see Adrian Chiles face on MOTD2 tomorrow night. Did anyone else see how smug he was when they were talking about Villa boro last sunday. This resuly has been coming for last 3 years. Its a vary happy hunting ground for us. Now if we can only go and beat UTD next week.
Happy happy days! Not just cos we beat Arsenal at the Emirates, but because we're finally building a side that can compete for a place in the top 4. Gabby, immense...Young, a continual threat. Davies, fantastic - he's not afraid to challenge and just gets better. Sidwell, so excited about what he's gonna bring to the table...he's got spirit and skill. Friedel, not too scared when the opposition gets the ball into our box cos he's a calm powerhouse and I think we've got another one in Guzan. The midfield were perfect today. Don't like dissing our players but I have to admit, as much as Reo Coker runs his ass of - you cant fault his workrate - he just doesn't come up with the goods. Excited about who MoN's gonna bring in in January, I'm hoping we don't go for Heskey - he's had his day and although I like Doyle, I'd like to see someone like Zaki - very impressed with him, he's got a hunger and can score. I don't see why we shouldn't take a point or three next week from United, the lads have just gotta keep their confidence and when the fans are behind the team, VP's electric.
great result anybody else relise we are a much better team with petrov in it ,it showed today compare to last two games anyway come on the villa
Good to see the formation working... we pass the ball a lot better when Coker is not playing, lets hope Sidwell keeps his place he was fantastic today..! Young had a great game too, but as you see we do need Barry..
Let's stop this crap about Barry never playing well against the top teams. Let's also accept that if we can pull off results like this we are really progressing regardless of the hiccups along the way.
Reply to AVMark:
I'll agree wit you Mark if we put in a good performance next week at home. We have had this performance at Arsenal last 2 years as well without getting the wins that we deserved. But in order for this result to really matter we need to be able to do it at home as well. Hopefully now with Petrov back and confidence up we can move on from here but we have been here before and not really progressed. If we could even manage a draw againest UTD i would be delighted.
we were ok today. still not champ league quality. only gabby really played well.
We are gonna get stuffed by united so dont get too excited.
suppose we should be happy if luck is on our side!
Well somebody had to do it!!!!!!!!...i miss taglor!
as you must have guessed lads...that last post was bollocks!
Very very happy man today.
Proud villan!...now lets get stuck into manure!
Great result today but why oh why couldn't we do it in the weeks before against lesser teams? We'd be sitting 3rd for sure at the least. I think the tiredness really does affect us and that was a much needed 6 days off.
I am a gooner and i just want to say what Arsene Wenger won't. You deserved to win because you were better than us. You were stronger and more effective in all areas, well done and if you beat us to 4th spot it will be because you deserve it!
Gabby Agbonlahor is class that was his 30th villa goal
he is at his best away from home he has now scored at
STAMFORD BRIDGE
OLD TRAFFORD
ANFIELD
AND NOW THE EMIRATES
all the top 4 teams not bad he also scored at everton,tottenham,blackburn,birmingham and many more
Too easy? We we're in full control for most of the match. Very aggressive and steady performance from our midfield, a big response to the lacklustre performance away to Newcastle.
Gabby was holehearted and lethal, good match. The first goal however was 100% own-goal. And we we're happy in front of it as Sagna got clipped and should maybe been rewarded with a free-kick. On the other hand, Gallas starts running 3 seconds to early on the penalty and wouldn't be nowhere near the secondball there so that adds up.
Friedel 7 (un-troubled)
Davies 8 (great performance for 94 min full)
Laursen 8 (top performance as usual)
L Young 7 (good match, clever defensively)
Cuellar 7 (played it safe, no errors, solid)
Milner 7 (not up to his best but runs and fights well)
Barry 7 (composed and tidy as we like him)
Petrov 8 (makes the balance in our midfield, great again)
Sidwell 8 (very agressive, won lots of balls and plays wise)
A Young 8 (as always there wen't points are dealt)
Gabby 9 and MOM (worked hard, took his chances, very good display)
Did we use any subs today?
Great balance in the team and the correct way to play in tricky away matches.
No fucking way what an amazing result! I cannot wait for the highlights! Was it really fully deserved?
Now for Utd!
WE WON AT THE EMIRATES!! FUCKING HAVE THAT!
Taglor?
Taglor?
Taglor?
Taglor?
Anyone home?
Wicked result lads! how come ash took the penalty?is it true that barry has fallen out with the management and is going to liverpool in jan?if gaz had of took the penalty and scored it it would of been his 50th goal! any idea lads
MON's post match interview made me cry.
mitchvilain08 according to 5live barry was injured at the time of the penalty.didn't see the game but great result.suprised nobody has mentioned a clean sheet bit of a rarity for us.
Let's hope for another next week!!.
UTV
Nice one!!Had a bet on with a arsenal supporter at my college that we'd beat arsenal at the emirates and i just knew we were gonna do em all week.
Great performance from Gabby.Bring on United!!
so far this season amongst the teams we have beat are Man City, Tottenham, Ajax, Slavia Prague and Arsenal, three of which have been awat from home.Not bad at all.
I think its fair to say we raise our game against the bigger teams and hopefully it will be the case next week aswell.
UTV
Im a happy little bunny tonight.
What a result but lets keep our feet on the ground because i expect another blip at some point (doesn't mean i won't be disappointed). Well played to everyone. Could have been 4 or 5 and they would have had no arguement. Just one word to finish on, CONSISTENCY. If we can get this sorted, the possibilities are endless.
UTV!!!!!!
im over the moon for the win, brilliant....
but why NO subs???
were a premiership side who are going to be playing in 3 competitions soon, and gareth barry got slightly injured in the build up to the penalty...so why not take him off after the 2nd goal?
great win, well chuffed with the lads, but MON is still annoying me.
but hey, if we keep beating teams like this, then so be it, but we NEED to be beating teams like newcrapple and middelsvilla
Reply to jay:
So, that's how you excuse a shit effort, blame the refs?
Reply to CodPieceVillain:
Makes yu want to strangle the lads doesn't it??
But hey thats football. Yu win, yu lose some.
I think this is proof of how good Villa realyl are. Everytime when commenting on our games, I have always that it isn't important whether our opposition come and play - it's about whether our boys go out and do their job. And tonight they did the job, outplaying a team, arguably in the top 10 of Europe in every aspect of the game. We outmuscled, outclassed and outdone them and I couldn't be happier.
Agree with Rich Clark about no subs being made? Surely playing Reo-Coker or Salfiou 2-0 up would have been the smart thing to do...
But boys lets just enjoy this for the time being. Another big game at VP next week so lets hope our boys come back from England fit and healthy and we can really test ourselves, against one of the tru preimership contenders. UTV!!
I've gotta say that we seem to be enjoying a better class of Arsenal fans on here (Jay aside) than we do with certain opposition teams we get on this blog. Not to paint a picture of any teams supporters based on those who post here, but fair play to those who have come on here and congratulated us! If it wasn't for the fact that we're level on points with us I'd wish you all the best
Maybe (hopefully) we can both finish in the top four at the expense of Liverpool 
I was watching the game live in a bar in Japan!!!
UTV 
Gabby deservedly will get all the plaudits but wasn't the midfield awesome 
The natives were in disbelief as they tend to be brain-washed into believing only the so-called "big four" are worth following
Being the only true supporter I made a tidy sum from these glory hunters & managed to convert quite a few too to the one & only truly universal religion, THE VILLA!!
Three rarities to point out that make this mornings victory more glorious:-
1)a clean sheet.Defence was magnificent,Walcott didn't cause much damage on either wing. Who'd of thought Cuellar at RB & L.Young at LB
2)A penalty not taken by Barry.Must admit when it was missed at the time,I got loads of pelters from the natives, thought it'd cost us at least a draw.
3)No big John Carew!! That finally exploded the myth that we're toothless without him
Barry was more like his old self, Petrov has shown MON was right to persist with him despite those (you know who you are) who constantly slated him & Sidwell........he was immense!Especially in view of the howler against Boro, to come back the next game against class opposition & put in a performance like that shows quality, character & guts
We mustn't get carried away, Man Utd will be different.If we get a draw from that I'll be well pleased! MON complained that his English youngsters were knackered & the German mid-week international was pointless, I thought he could've used a few subs to give them a rest?
I mention this because surely Villa will need to put in at least the same work rate & commitment to compete against Man Utd.
Still, what a beautiful morning!!!!!!!!!!Yeah!!!!!!
"We've come, we've created chances, and we're a delight to watch."
I absolutely love MON.
Reply to Rich Clark:
Look at Gabby. If that kid can't play 50-60 games...Christ. Gimme that body, I could play every day. And play my heart out.
Forget the subs. Forget anything else except 2-0. MON knows what he's doing. Days like this prove it.
Reply to rdavilla_:
Yes, well said. We have raised our game. And the blips are disappointing. But we're even on points with Arsenal after 13 games.
You can't knock that. You just can't. And all those who've criticized MON...All the "Yeah, but what if..." and so on.
Sure. But you have to admit. He obviously knows what he's doing. And I'm damn proud he's our manager.
Reply to philbob88:
Get in!!!
It was fucking well deserved. Brilliant.
Reply to nucks:
At last an opposing supporter who talks sense.If we are to conpete for fourth with you ,your experience in the later stages of the season will probably see you through.
Fantastic result and really well deserved. I must say I think that is the best goal I have seen Gabby get for Villa. If you look I never predicted a loss on another thread as I thought we stood a chance for at least a draw.
Bless you Taglor.
Is that a little smile twitching on your face?
Reply to Sasa:
Agree with you there Sasa
If we could just get Gabby to attack the box all the time.
In the past GT tried to get our flyers to stop & look up to finish off there good work.
In Gabbys case i would tell him to keep going because when he stops he dances by the ball move finished.
Mon More of this please,
What a result! Watched it with my two mates, One Villa fan, the other a Gooner!! Was class!
Gabby is Class, so is Petrov and Sidwell. Young looked backed to his best as well, except for his Penalty miss.
I really hope O'Neill sticks with this team for Manure next week, and doesn't bring Reo-Coker and Shorey back (the two weak links).
UTV!
Welcome to happiness taglor. I knew you could do it...
I've got Setanta, anyone is welcome to come round and watch us dick Manure on my HD TV as long as you bring at least 1 Manure fan to scoff at, they are usually found anywhere but Manchester and have every accent except Manc.
Reply to taglor:
Ha ha you're right there Taglor.....my mate is a Man U fan and he lives in the west midlands (20 odd miles from Birmingham)!
Is this the real taglor??
Surely its not that hard to hack into an account that isn't a user??
If it is taglor, then my God, VILLA MUST HAVE DONE SOMETHING RIGHT!!
UTV!! THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT...
After personaly slating the team for such poor results against both the TOON and BORO i have to give credit when due and how due it is after what can only be discribed as a most stunning performance against the gunners yesterday Just a magnificent team effort from begining to end MORE OF THE SAME LADS will do just fine..
We have now played 3 out of the big 4.
2 of those have been away from VP and we have gained 4 out of a possible 9 points.
Not bad at all. KEEP IT UP BOYS.
I know its off topic but i live in stourbridge in the west mids and a local pub has members of the 82 euro cup team there this week. HAPPY DAYS.
Now Taglor, you know these over paid toss pots.
Well they get rather a lot of their income from Sky and Setanta.
Sooooooooo, I think you'd best cancel that Setanta subscription as you're just setting yourself up for more depressed episodes in the future.
Actually Nan I have Setanta for the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the Calzaghe vs Jones Jr fight, I only watch the Villa and that's been poor apart from Spurs.
Apologies Taglor.
(That was a poorly researched jibe on my part.)
What the hell is Ultimate Fighting Championships?
Reply to Myles:
Not wrong.
We click when he's on song. How much has he come on since the back end of last season? Obviously a bit of a joker and moral lifter too. He's becoming very important.
Let's go put the wind up Utd. now.
UTV!!
Taglor, are you ill?
You've praised the team
We got it right on Saturday, great result, which I watched in Tenerife.
I was sat with a load of Arsenal fans too, which made it even better
Sidwell was immense, as was Petrov.
I couldn't see it with Barry though, get rid, IMO.
And yes, we're so much better with NRC out of the side.
Even though I'm normally optimistic, I predicted a shoeing for us. I'm still standing by that for the Manure game
I so hope I'm wrong.
They're there for the taking, IMO.
Badger,
A few sports columnists had BARRY as MOTM.
Badger,
A few sports columnists had BARRY as MOTM.
Reply to againsthesun:
sagna never got clipped he jus landed badly and no way was it a foul!
i would put my house on it arsenal wouldnt put the ball out there on the counter attack!
I think that Villa Deserved there win against The gunners for once.
Certainly deserved to win the match! Well played
Reply to AVFCBlog:
I still think Petrov should be uesd as the creative man in the middle and not the holding man, even though he,s coming into his own this season
I took out 3 lanes of traffic on the Old Kent Road when the second
went in. Still not sure how everyone missed me. Pulled over to calm down and had a KFC. Lovely!
runner... I hope the mighty Petrov will step up and do that. Seriously starting to think he might have it in him...