Gavin Garthwaite 
Gavin Garthwaite had to watch Arsenal's victory in the Villa end - read on for his experiences during the Gunners 2-0 win at the weekend
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to secure a Matchday ticket for the Villa game, in the Arsenal section.
However, I was at a wedding on Friday evening and got talking to my sister’s boyfriend, who is a big Villan fan, and he said he could get me a ticket if I wanted…in the home end!
I’ll watch The Arsenal in any way I can - so I took him up on his offer and set off early Saturday afternoon for our first away game of the season.
I was quickly told by a number of stewards that a new electronic system had been installed ahead of the game, and this was the first match of its operation.
The queues were huge and after a 45 minute wait- I eventually got in 15 minutes kick off.In the queue I got talking to a number of home fans and although friendly in nature, I did over hear from another supporter and his two sons ‘we’ll beat Arsenal today, we always do’!
He had a point- recently, we have struggled against Villa and after losing home and away to them last season, I was certain we had a point to prove and that we would get the victory we badly wanted.
The Gooners faithful were in fine voice- I was sat behind the goal to the right of them and was with them in spirit, if not in person.
The first half was a tough watch- as with previous encounters, Unai got his tactics spot on and Arsenal struggled to break the lines- despite having plenty of the ball.Villa could even have taken the lead twice, especially with Ollie Watkins missing virtually an open goal (however VAR May have ruled this out for the foul on Gabriel moments before).
But this Arsenal team are developing still and are another year older, with huge hunger, and with Timber back and the addition of Calafiori- it feels as though this season is our year.
With a resilience and maturity that belies the youthfulness of the squad, Arsenal flicked the switch in the second half…
For all Martinelli’s endeavour, he replacement and introduction of Leo on 67 minutes, it was the turning point to get our noses in front and kick on.
A special mention must go to David Raya in goal. We’ve had a year of the supporter divide on whether or not Ramsdale should have been replaced as number one, but I came from the angle of trusting Arteta’s ruthlessness.
If he can gain a 10% improvement, from any position, he will- and I am fully behind the manager in that respect.
The save he made in the second half proved that we have a monster in goal and he is going to be imperative to what we are trying to achieve this season.
With Partey wrapping the game up with the second goal and Saliba making a world class last ditch tackle of Jacob Ramsey- we are in for a big season…
Fasten your seatbelts!
