Time to spend, Arsene! Arsenal suffered a defeat on the opening day of the new season Arsenal suffered a defeat on the opening day of the new Premier League season after Aston Villa came from behind to win at The Emirates, while Liverpool, Fulham, West Ham and Southampton all kicked off their campaigns with victories. Arsenal were beaten 3-1 by Villa, while Liverpool started the day’s play with a 1-0 victory over Stoke in the lunchtime fixture. West Ham put on an impressive display to hand Premier League new-boys Cardiff City a 2-0 defeat. Southampton snatched all three points in a 1-0 win at West Brom, with Fulham beating Sunderland by the same scoreline. Norwich and Everton each settled for a point in a 2-2 draw. For Arsenal it was the beginning manager Arsene Wenger did not want as the pressure continues to increase on him, with the supporters wanting new signings to arrive. Arsenal did make a good start when Olivier Giroud put Arsenal in front after six minutes with a great finish following great work from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain down the left. But despite making a bright start, Arsenal were pegged back just 16 minutes later, with Christian Benteke heading in a rebound from his saved penalty by Wojciech Szczesny – who looked to have redeemed himself after bringing down Gabriel Agbonlahor for the penalty. Santi Cazorla was on the bench for the start of the game, but Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger threw on the Spaniard immediately after half-time. And the pressure mounted on Villa as Giroud twice came close to doubling his tally, and Rosicky engineering an opportunity to get into the box but failing to test Brad Guzan in the visitors’ goal. Down the other end, Fabian Delph almost gave Villa the lead against the run of play, but Arsenal survived when his shot bounced off the post. Moments later though, Arsenal conceded a second penalty after Laurent Koscielny fouled Agbonlahor, and Benteke stepped up to make no mistake with this one to hand Villa the advantage. Arsenal’s bid to get an equaliser took a dent as Koscielny was given a red card, and Villa were holding firm with Guzan producing a fine reflex save to tip Cazorla’s effort onto the bar. And for all of Arsenal’s attempts to hit back, instead they conceded a third goal through debutant Antonio Luna after being put through by Andreas Wiemann.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 17:43:13 +0000
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