Arsenal 2-2 Aston Villa: Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz fired the Gunners in front but Villa fought back through goals from Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins in eight second-half minutes. Mikel Arteta waited 84 minutes to make a substitution in this match, and when he finally broke glass, his only tool was a decidedly blunt Raheem Sterling. For all Sterling’s known talents, he is a 30-year-old winger of fading impact and it was enough to wonder whether the player he was replacing, an utterly knackered Gabriel Martinelli, might still have been the better option as the minutes ticked away.
![[Ollie Watkins scored Villa’s second-half equaliser]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/18/19/25/GettyImages-2194579717.jpeg)
Arsenal’s lack of depth right now doesn’t entirely explain how they contrived to draw this game 2-2, having led 2-0 after an hour, as mighty chunks of their title bid crumbled away. Aston Villa deserve plenty of credit. But it was conspicuous that where Arteta made only one substitution, just minutes before kick-off here, Liverpool had snatched victory at Brentford thanks to a £60m substitute, Darwin Nunez, one of five luxury second-half changes by Arne Slot.
![[Arsenal’s Leandro Trossard reacts during the Premier League match]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/18/19/36cdd938246c66bb2f5820d74a1553faY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM3MzE1Mzk2-2.78728325.jpg)
Football in the five-subs era is now a new game of two halves: the first hour, in which the first XIs play; and the final 30 minutes plus added time when half of the outfield players change, when tactics shift and identities morph and games are won and lost. Arsenal have lost 12 points from winning positions this season, more than in any of the previous four seasons under Mikel Arteta. Right now they are unable to muscle the result away from their opponent, unable to bend the game’s narrative arc in their favour in the way Liverpool did at Brentford, and again in midweek when Diogo Jota came off the bench to sink Nottingham Forest.
![[Gabriel Martinelli scored Arsenal’s opening goal]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/18/18/59/GettyImages-2194571649.jpeg)
