After Aston Villa’s win against Arsenal, there were many standout performances but we have picked out Man of the Match, Diego Carlos.
Last night, Aston Villa secured yet another famous win as they got the better of Mikel Arteta and Arsenal in a 1-0 win.
It was a hard-fought three points which saw Unai Emery alter the Villans’ way of playing at times to help secure the win.
With that, the Gunners had the lion’s share of possession but were unable to create any more chances than the hosts. Although their manager saw the game and result differently.
No matter how he saw it, Villa came away with the win. This came courtesy of a captain’s contribution as an early John McGinn goal was enough.
Thanks to some potentially fortunate VAR decisions and some great defending on the night, Villa saw it out to win.
On the night, there was one man who shone bright and was awarded the Man of the Match award.
How good was Diego Carlos?
Since joining Villa for £26m from Sevilla in 2022 it has been a tough time. With a lengthy injury last year, he has come back into the fold in recent weeks. Coming into this one, Carlos made a statement suggesting that the Gunners didn’t scare him.
He has taken his first team opportunity and then some as he has been a star performer in the past few weeks. Carlos was superb against Manchester City and was even better against Arsenal at Villa Park last night.
With yet another clean sheet, the Brazilian played a huge role as that was secured. According to SofaSore, he was worthy of a 7.7 overall rating. Carlos has been referred to as a ‘monster‘ in the past and last night’s performance showed exactly that.
He won 75% of his duels on the night which kept Arsenal at bay for large spells. With six clearances and five tackles, he was quite superb defensively against the Gunners. Given the attacking riches they have it was no easy game. Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli will pose trouble for any defence in the league and they were kept quiet.
Another factor which made his performance even better was two goal-line clearances which secured the clean sheet. On another day, if he hadn’t played, the score could have been very different.
Carlos was superb and his mix of pace, strength and football IQ makes him a great partner for Pau Torres at the back. With Ezri Konsa making the right-back spot his own right now, it is a great time for the Villans’ defence.
