A draw - not the start we wanted, but what a stadium! This stadium is going to be know as one of the greats in the world - its clear (a credit to Arsene, Islington Council and everyone else who made it a reality).
An optimistic view on our performance would be that we came back from behind to at least grab a point. However, I’m a realist. We should have won this match and the manner in which we drew was not excessively impressive. On a more positive note, good to see Walcott make his Premiership debut in Arsenal colours and make such a positive impact - resulting in our goal.
However, I’m still concerned that we are lacking that direct approach to ‘just get a goal’ regardless of how it gets in there. You know what I’m talking about – the scrappy ones where who knows who scored it, but a straight through ball and a last minute scramble results in a goal – just a valuable as any other from the table’s perspective.
Well, maybe when Henry is actually match fit his sublime skill will mask over this – again.
TEAMSHEET:
Arsenal Lehmann, Eboue, Toure, Djourou, Hoyte (Flamini 80),Hleb, Fabregas, Silva, Ljungberg (Walcott 73),Adebayor (Van Persie 65), Henry.
Subs Not Used: Almunia, Cygan.
Booked: Toure.
Goals: Silva 84.
Aston Villa Sorensen, Hughes, Mellberg, Ridgewell, Samuel,Agbonlahor, McCann, Davis (Hendrie 83), Barry,Angel (Laursen 90), Moore (Djemba-Djemba 89).
Subs Not Used: Taylor, Phillips.
Booked: Hendrie, Angel.
Goals: Mellberg 53.
Att: 60,023