VAR Cheated Arsenal again?? Watch how VAR overturn Arsenal goal to be offside, Rough challenge on Gabriel Jesus was supposed to be penalty also – when will this VAR issues stop??
VAR lied to Arsenal again? Watch how VAR changes Arsenal’s goal to offside. The rough charge on Gabriel Jesus should have also led to a penalty. When will VAR stop making mistakes? Trends in the EPL.
With a strong first half showing against Arsenal on December 9th, Aston Villa made it clear that they are real contenders for the Premier League title.
At Villa Park, Unai Emery’s team was ahead 1-0 at break thanks to John McGinn’s early goal, which was set up by Leon Bailey’s brilliant play. But things might have turned out differently if Bukayo Saka had scored an early chance that would have given Arsenal the lead. According to Jamie Carragher, Saka’s move off of Lucas Digne caused the Frenchman to temporarily switch off, calling him a “lucky boy.”
Carragher stressed how important it was to stay alert on the pitch at all times, pointing out the great players who were playing and the bad things that could happen if you weren’t paying attention.
Saka was a tough opponent for Digne in the first half. According to Fotmob, Saka only won half of the duels he joined and didn’t even try to make a single tackle. This game fits with Digne’s overall trend this season: according to Fbref, he is in the bottom 11% of Premier League fullbacks in terms of tackles won per 90 minutes.
Digne usually wins duels, but he only challenges dribblers 1.84 times per game, which is much less than the league average and makes it harder for Arsenal to defend against Saka’s wide moves.
Notably, Digne has a hard time intercepting passes. Among players in the same position, he ranks in the 38th percentile for passes stopped per match. Also, 95% of fullbacks block more shots than the 30-year-old, which shows that he needs to work on this part of his defence.
Even though Digne wasn’t doing a great job on defence, he gave up a foul because he challenged at the wrong time. When Digne had the ball, he didn’t have much of an effect—he only touched it 14 times and tried to cross but failed. Arsenal had the ball most of the time, so he only tried six passes and completed 71% of them. He also lost the ball three times.
Digne even took a shot at David Raya’s goal from a free kick, but it hit the wall instead of the goal. This shows that the offence might need more dynamic inputs.
Because of these defensive mistakes and not making an effect when they had the ball, some people think that Emery might replace Digne with Alex Moreno in the second half to strengthen the left back position and stop Saka from getting more chances. This smart move could make Aston Villa’s defence stronger and keep them ahead in the race for Premier League glory.
