It's been a case of one step forward, another step backward for Arsenal in recent weeks. 

The defeat to Wolves robbed them of both Bernd Leno and David Luiz, both of whom were sent off at Molineux. 

That meant a debut for Mat Ryan against Aston Villa, with Rob Holding and Gabriel propping up the defence in front of him. 

That's probably an overstatement for what they were actually doing. 

It took under two minutes for Villa to open the scoring. 

Ollie Watkins capitalised on some truly chaotic defending from the Gunners, Gabriel miskicking and failing to clear properly, before an awful howler from Cedric Soares. 

That's incredibly poor from Cedric. While it was his first serious error of the season, it was a notable one and won't have improved his standing under Mikel Arteta. 

It meant Ryan had conceded a goal on his first game for his new club before he'd even touched the ball - welcome to Arsenal, Mat.

As easy as it is to focus on the north Londoners' haphazard back line, Villa deserved a huge amount of credit for coming straight out of the blocks. 

Dean Smith's side deserved their lead, playing with a far greater intensity. Arsenal struggled to find Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Pepe squandering a decent chance.