Partey ‘horror’: Neville reacts to ‘terrible’ Arsenal v Aston Villa incident
Gary Neville was stunned as Thomas Partey handed Ollie Watkins a golden opportunity to open the scoring for Aston Villa against Arsenal.
Unai Emery snubbed Lucas Digne for Ian Maatsen in a surprise selection decision for the trip to the Emirates (18 January), which proved costly as the Dutchman was caught lacking at the back post for Gabriel Martinelli’s opener.
However, the biggest talking point of the first half came via Watkins, who started the clash as expected, after Thomas Partey gave the ball directly to the Villa attacker via an Arsenal throw-in, leaving presenters Neville and Rob Hawthorne in shock after the “terrible give away” live on Sky Sports Main Event (18 January, 6:01pm).
Neville said: “I thought Watkins would get through but I didn’t think it would be from an Arsenal throw in.”
Hawthorne added: “Horror moment.”
Aston Villa spurn golden opportunity v Arsenal
A clash against Aston Villa amid a Premier League title race, Mikel Arteta will be suffering from a case of deja vu at the Emirates.
The Villans inflicted the final blow to Arsenal’s title hopes last season with two quickfire goals courtesy of Leon Bailey and Watkins, ultimately handing the crown to Manchester City.
Although Martinelli went on to ensure the hosts took a one-goal lead into half-time, it certainly could have been a different story had Watkins converted the opportunity presented by Partey.
Sky Sports presenter and ex-Arsenal man Paul Merson mooted the hosts would be under no pressure should Brentford take points off Liverpool, but Darwin Nunez scored a late brace to keep the Reds atop the league table.
The pressure will somewhat be alleviated after the goal, but the pressure of losing further ground in the title race is affecting the home players.
Therefore, Emery can lean on this to pile further pressure going into the second half – his men have won at the Emirates before and are certainly still in his fixture with 45 minutes left to play.
In other Aston Villa news, Paul Merson is “worried” about a Villa ace after what he saw against Arsenal.
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