Arsenal picked up a fighting 3-2 win vs Aston Villa in the Premier League despite going down to 10 men before the end of the first half.
Maitland-Niles received a second yellow card after diving into a rash tackle and catching the Villa left-back which meant that the Gunners were on the verge of dropping points in their fourth consecutive match in the league.
But ultimately that was not the case as Arsenal dug deep and scored three goals in the second half thereby picking up their third win of the new season.
While most pundits and fans have been busy plauding the effort and resilience of the players but according to Paul Merson, Unai Emery might very well have played a key part in this comeback.
According to Merson, the Arsenal players seem to be backing their manager with all their potential which is why it won’t be easy to sack him even if the Gunners are going through a bad patch of form.
“Arsenal beating Villa is a big win,” Merson wrote for Sky Sports.
“After the week before at Watford, to look like they were going to get beat by Villa… it wouldn’t have been good. It papers over the cracks though for another week.
“Arsenal are in a situation at the moment where everyone’s in transition – Man Utd aren’t great, Tottenham aren’t great, Chelsea aren’t great, it’s a real big time for someone like Leicester to break this top four and you’ve got to have a good start, but again, you need to make hay while the sun shines.
“I thought Unai Emery was under severe pressure if they’d got beaten. When you get the sack as a manager, though, it’s because the players don’t fancy you.
“When you saw the game on Sunday, they had 10 men and came out and scored three goals – he hasn’t lost them. But they’re listening to him. They’ve got a chance to finish in the top four, and if they do that this season, it’s a great season for them.
“Credit, where it’s due – to come back and score three with 10 men, was a feat. You’d have to ask Villa some serious questions.
“You’d be worried about them, but you don’t want to be put in that position every week.”
Verdict:
Unai Emery has tried to bring in some big changes to his squad during the summer and it looks likes things are finally starting to fall back in place for Arsenal.
The manager has gotten back most of his injured first-team players which means he has covers for almost all the concerned areas on the pitch.
And apart from all the tactical details, the Spaniard seems to have injected a fresh level of confidence amongst the players – something which had been missing from an Arsenal first-team during the past couple of years.
