He is upset but he made the difference – Mikel Arteta hails Leandro Trossard

Mikel Arteta hailed Leandro Trossard’s response to being “upset” after he came off the bench to help Arsenal earn a 2-0 win over Aston Villa.

Emi Martinez twice denied Arsenal in the opening stages, most notably palming Bukayo Saka’s goalbound effort wide, but Villa’s Ollie Watkins had his head in his hands after scuffing wide from close range.

Watkins had another opportunity in the second period and his certain goal was heroically denied by David Raya – which allowed Trossard to put Arsenal in front with his first touch before Thomas Partey sealed all three points.

Trossard stroked past Martinez into the bottom corner but did not react before his team-mates mobbed him in celebration.

Arteta said: “First of all when you don’t get picked they are certain ways to react.

“He is upset but he is upset to show on the pitch how good he is, not upset and then come in and complain (he) wasn’t playing, that is a huge quality.

“The boys who unfortunately didn’t have the minutes are supporting the other ones and that’s exactly what we need.

“We have two great left wingers that play in that position and it’s always a challenge, but you know you will get that quality on certain and specific games. Today I decided to play Gabi (Martinelli) who had a good performance and after that we had to change the game, Trossard came on and made the difference so big credit to him.”

Villa started the second half the brighter of the two teams and could have taken the lead after Amadou Onana’s deflected effort bounced off the crossbar and Watkins nodded the rebound towards goal, but Raya magnificently saved to keep the scores goalless.

Arteta admitted his side faced a tough challenge but was happy to come out with all three points.

“Today we found a