Wednesday evening, Arsenal revived their hope for office. It wasn’t pretty. In fact, most of the season is not easy to see.

Unfortunately, they fell back in the title race, reducing Liverpool’s gap to four points.

Well, they could be relegated after a disappointing 2-2 draw at home to Unai Emery’s Aston Villa.

Mikel ArtetaThe team created a lot of chances – as they did against Manchester United last week and Spurs in midweek – but were let down by poor defending.

With the Gunners struggling, it was a relief to see them go 2-0 up, but Villa did well to escape north London with a point from Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins.

It was not a good day at all for a Premier LeagueIn the second half, however, there were excellent performers in red and white.

Arsenal’s best players against Aston Villa

After being heavily criticized for his performance since Bukayo Saka’s injury, Leandro Trossard has brought it up in back-to-back games now.

The Belgian scored the winner against Tottenham a few days ago and was perhaps Arsenal’s biggest threat on Saturday evening.

Trossard produced both goals for the home side, heading the ball down the left before crossing for Gabriel Martinelli to score in the second half.

He provided the second half, crossing to Kai Havertz whose powerful effort could not be stopped by former Gunner Emi Martinez.

Just when the attack looked like it was starting to hit, Arsenal almost ran away with all three points, but VAR ruled out a late goal. A long shot deflected off Havertz’s arm and found the net.

The biggest highlight from the night was that the German found himself among the goals. Beyond him and Trossard, youngster Myles Lewis Skelly looked the star again and almost got the winning assist, slotting the ball past Trossard in injury time, only for the former Brighton man to put the ball away.

In contrast, it was unfortunate that Arsenal’s greatest creator, their captain, was not at the tournament.

Martin Odegaard’s performance in numbers

This has not been the greatest of seasons Martin Odegaard.

Practice in Numbers

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The Norwegian suffered an ankle injury during international duty with Norway in September, a moment that kept him out of 12 games. Since his return, he has not been very successful.

Missing a penalty last Sunday in the FA Cup, the captain seems to be suffering from a lack of confidence, which is not helped by the injury to Saka.

However, with the Englishman missing, someone must step up and it must be Odegaard. He is Arteta’s leader on the pitch but he doesn’t show the qualities needed in the leadership department and on the ball.

His actions against Emery’s men were as bad as they were described as “a stinker” by Arsenal journalist Con Harrisonwhile GOAL is giving it to him 5/10 game low.

The numbers told the story of a terrible night for Odegaard who only conceded one key. Often leading chances inside Arsenal, he struggled to find pockets of space between Villa’s lines.

What made it clear was his late free-kick, a moment that turned out to be the last strike of the game. Odegaard dived the ball deep into the hands of Martinez.

It was one of the 18 times he gave the ball away and to make matters worse, they haven’t won a single duel, a fact that Arteta will no doubt be worried about.

He only had one shot and failed with his only attempt. This was one of his worst performances in an Arsenal shirt.

If the Gunners are to have any chance of winning the league, they need their captain to change quickly.

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