18x possession lost: Arteta must now drop Arsenal star after 5/10 performance vs Aston Villa – opinion | OneFootball

Arsenal shared the spoils against Aston Villa in the Premier League after a disappointing defensive performance.

The Gunners had a good start at the Emirates Stadium, and they deservedly raced into a 1-0 lead at the interval.

Arsenal doubled their advantage soon after the break, and they looked on course for a comfortable 2-0 triumph.

However, Villa made a terrific comeback with two goals in eight minutes to pick up a point in the end.

The defensive organisation was poor after taking a two-goal lead. Thomas Partey was partly to blame for both goals.

Partey played from a makeshift right-back position yesterday with Jurrien Timber moving into central defence to compensate for William Saliba’s injury.

The decision did not prove worthwhile. The Ghanaian almost gifted Ollie Watkins with the opening goal after a poor throw-in into the striker’s path.

In the second half, he failed to cut down the cross from Lucas Digne from which Youri Tielemans scored.

He had another poor moment for Watkins’ strike. Partey tried to play the offside trap when he should have tracked the striker’s run in the box.

Partey was good with his distribution on the day, but he was guilty of losing possession on 18 occasions.

He received a 5/10 performance rating from football.london as the Gunners dropped costly points.

We believe Partey must be dropped to the bench for the forthcoming games due to his current form.

If Saliba is injured for a while, manager Mikel Arteta should play Jakub Kiwior alongside Gabriel Magalhaes in central defence with Jurrien Timber in the right-back role.

Riccardo Calafiori is another option to partner Magalhaes if he returns from injury in the near future.

Arteta should also consider playing with a wing-back system to provide extra defensive assurance with a three-man central defence.

Stats from Sofascore.com