Arsenal lost ground in the title race over the weekend as they fell to a 1-0 defeat away to Unai Emery's high flying Aston Villa.
John McGinn's goal in the seventh minute was enough to succumb Arsenal to just their second league defeat of the season, meaning Liverpool were able to leapfrog them and go to the top of the table following their comeback win against Crystal Palace earlier in the day.
It was Villa's record 15th home league win in a row, and they now sit in third, just two points off the league leaders and one point below Arsenal in second.
As with any Arsenal defeat, football twitter did what football twitter does and immediately went into meltdown. Rival fans taking the opportunity to poke fun at Arsenal's demise, whilst gunners fans themselves questioning their own side's ability to mount a title challenge.
However, after having a couple of days to dissect what happened on Saturday evening I believe that the defeat is nothing for Arsenal fans to be too concerned about.
First of all, as previously mentioned, Saturday's win was Villa's 15th in a row at home in the league which just shows how Emery has turned Villa Park into an absolute fortress in 2023, as Pep Guardiola and Manchester City found out just three days earlier.
Villa beat City 1-0, just like they did to Arsenal, but the manner of the defeats was very different. Villa absolutely dominated City, they had 22 shots compared to City's two, which were both before the 12th minute. Villa created 2.04 xG compared to City's 0.83xG according to The BBC.
According to Understat, Villa created 0.61xG against Arsenal, the least they have created at home all season. In comparison, Arsenal created 1.3xG, which also does not include the late Havertz goal that was ruled out because it brushed past his hand.
Aston Villa are a very good side, I believe that they will be well in contention for the Champions League places at the end of the season, so a defeat away against them is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.
Overall, Arsenal were the better team in the game. It was clear that they had their fair share of chances to score, Odegaard especially had two from positions that he has been scoring from all season. If the gunners had been more clinical on the day, then it could have very easily been a statement win for Arsenal.
But, it wasn't to be. Arsenal's lack of ruthlessness in front of goal has been something that has caused them a few problems this season, leading to many of their fans calling for a striker to be signed in January with high-profile names such as Ivan Toney and Victor Osimhen linked.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said: "It was a really good performance. I thought we were the better team and we didn't deserve to lose the game at all but this is football.
"You have to put the ball in the net and that's the only thing we missed today because we generated some big, big chances. Villa didn't create anything but we still lost the game."
Usually, Arsenal would be able to look to their wingers to bail them out but Saka and Martinelli had rare off days this weekend. Neither player managing to have a real impact on the game, leading to the brazilian being substituted off after 70 minutes.
Summer signing Kai Havertz was the only Arsenal player who could leave the game with his head held high, and he was very unlucky to see his late goal ruled out for handball. Albeit the right decision by the officials, it is a ridiculous rule nonetheless.
Whilst the referee and VAR may have got that decision right, they certainly did not get through the game without error.
Arsenal can count themselves very unlucky to not have won a penalty when Douglas Luiz kicked the back of Gabriel Jesus' leg in the penalty area sending him tumbling to the ground. VAR had a look at it and despite awarding a penalty to Crystal Palace for a near identical foul on Jean-Philippe Mateta earlier in the day, they agreed with the on field decision and no penalty was given.
Diego Carlos was also extremely lucky to not be shown a red card for a blatant elbow on Eddie Nketiah in the closing stages of the game, a decision that I still can't get my head around. Yet, the red card would have had very little effect on the outcome of the game I'm sure.
Mikel Arteta refused to comment on any of the refereeing in the game, perhaps being mindful of the FA charge looming over his head following comments made after the defeat against Newcastle at the start of November.
The rest of the weekend's results added more misery for Arteta as City, Liverpool and Spurs all won.
At the end of the day, Arsenal only have themselves to blame for the fact they are no longer top of the league. In a league as competitive as this, title contenders cannot afford to miss some of the chances that Odegaard et al did.
However, if Arsenal can be a bit more clinical in the final third, and keep up the defensive stability they have shown most of the season, then I have no doubt that they will be well in the midst of the title race at the end of the season.
Arsenal's next couple of league games provide them with a chance to send out a message to the rest of the league as they face Brighton at home before going to Anfield on the 23rd.
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