Even as the manager and his entire squad knew what was at stake if we leave with anything short of a win, which was what we endd up doing, there was little they could do to avert defeat in the hands of Aston Villa.
It was a narrow loss that many did not see coming after we scooped heroic results in our last two matches which were with current league champions, Liverpool, and Manchester City. The latter qualified us for the Emirates FA Cup semi-final slated for August 1.
No excuses, but one would not be totally off track if he links last night's poor performance to fatigue gotten from the highly-tasking games involved in of late.
We dominated in possession as usual but that did not tell on the outcome. It took the hosts just about 25 minutes to throw us into a panic. From a whipped in corner-kick, Trezeguet lashed one into the post, leaving Emi Martinez stranded.
The first half ended with us making no headway, then came the introduction of Granit Xhaka with the aim of adding some balance to the team of the day.
We began to get a little spark afterwards as Bukayo Saka played wide a chance and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang saw his shot from close range blocked.
Aston Villa would have extended their lead had Keinan Davies not blasted wide the ball supplied to him by Jack Grealish. We were also close. Unfortunately, Eddie Nketiah's header from Nicolas Pepe's corner smashed the bar before falling into the hands of Pepe Reina.
It ended 1-0 and we left with nothing. We remain 10th on the league table with our only hope of being in Europe next season now lifting the FA Cup.
0 Comments
Your comments are highly welcomed but please be informed that comments which include abusive remarks, hate speech, racial discriminatory remarks and any other form of prejudice are prohibited. Also note that comments visibility is subject to moderation so they will not show immediately.