Steven Gerrard's Aston Villa gamble that backfired in Arsenal defeat

Steven Gerrard took a gamble in terms of the formation and team selection for the fixture against Arsenal, which sadly didn't pay off as he witnessed his side lose 1-0 at Villa Park.

In the four games prior to the Arsenal fixture yesterday, Gerrard had set his Aston Villa side up in a 4-3-1-2 formation with both Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins playing ahead of an in-form Philippe Coutinho. The change came on the back of two poor results against both Watford and Newcastle United, where Villa operated in a 4-3-2-1 formation with two number tens.

Despite three wins out of the four games in the new formation with both strikers on the pitch, Gerrard opted to revert back to the original tactics of playing with two numbers tens behind just one striker, in the form of Watkins for this fixture.

Sadly for Gerrard and the packed out Villa Park crowd, the same problems that had plagued the side in this system previously were once again appearing in this game. Villa looked stagnated and laborious in their build-up play throughout much of the first half, which ultimately led to the falling behind thanks to an effort from Bukayo Saka in the 30th minute.

An effort which decided the fixture in the end as Villa failed to gather any real momentum in this match-up, despite an improved effort in the second half. The game was a stark contrast to the performances fans had witnessed against Southampton and Leeds United in recent weeks, as familiar issues with the tactics began to surface.

For much of the game the majority of the space and responsibility offensively fell to Ashley Young, who had the second most touches on the evening for Villa with 73. Young, who was operating in place of the injured Lucas Digne, gave a valiant attempt to drag