Arsenal limped and laboured their way to a 2-1 Europa League defeat against Villarreal that, given the context, they can't really complain about.The clash at Estadio de la Cerámica was always going to carry extra needle because it was the first time that Unai Emery had faced the Gunners after his sacking early in the 2019–20 campaign.And with kick-off happening on the backdrop of Emery actually having a better record at Arsenal than his successor, Mikel Arteta, it felt damningly apt that it was Villarreal who flew out of the blocks.
Villarreal 2-1 Arsenal
In fact, Arsenal found themselves 1-0 down within the opening five minutes when some fantastic footwork from Samuel Chukwueze paved the way for Manu Trigueros to lash home a finish.
From that moment onwards, Arsenal heads went down and the 'Yellow Submarines' smelt blood, doubling their lead before the half-hour mark through veteran defender Raúl Albiol.
Arsenal's statuesque defending from a corner allowed the ex-Real Madrid and Spain man to ghost in at the back post, finding the net much to the bewilderment of Bernd Leno between the sticks.
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Arsenal struggle in Spain
And give or take a brief second where it looked as though Arsenal won themselves a penalty through Nicolas Pepe, that's how things remained until half-time.
Gooners would have been forgiven for assuming that Arteta would make a series of changes at the break but alas, they persisted with Emile Smith Rowe leading a false nine system.
However, undoubtedly the most egregious error was the decision to keep on Los Blancos loanee Dani Ceballos who had been wholly criticised for his first-half performance.
It proved to be a costly show of faith, too, with Ceballos earning a needless second yellow card that had Arteta tearing his hair out on the touchline.
At this point, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Arsenal were on a hiding to nothing, but luck seemed to favour them during the closing exchanges in eastern Spain.
Arsenal's fortunate penalty
We say that because Arsenal pulled themselves back into the tie virtually out of nowhere when Pepe converted a penalty in the 72nd minute, albeit one that came under questionable circumstances.
In fact, replays of Bukayo Saka hitting the ground to win the spot-kick don't shine too brightly on the Arsenal youngster with many suggesting that he deliberately brought his leg towards Trigueros.
Accusations of diving duly came in tandem, so be sure to check out some of the reaction down below, but we'll allow you to be the judge by watching the incident in all its ignominy here:
Well, I guess the Gunners were due a little bit of luck.
Arsenal take an away goal to London
And there was even an opening for Arsenal to draw level on the night when Etienne Capoue was given his marching orders, making the 10 vs 10, but a clear opportunity never presented itself.
Nevertheless, considering a close examination of the game would leave you thinking that Arsenal had been battered from pillar to post, they can take a lot from having only lost 2-1 on the night.
And they should thank their lucky stars that an away goal even presented itself because to say the manner in which Saka teed it up was controversial would be the mother of all understatements.