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Martin Odegaard didn't cover himself in glory towards the end of Arsenal's clash against Aston Villa on Saturday
Declan Rice was furious with Martin Odegaard after he pulled out of a fifty-fifty in the dying embers of stoppage time. Emi Buendia fired Aston Villa to a 2-1 win over Arsenal at Villa Park on Saturday afternoon, smashing the ball past David Raya with the last kick of the game.
Unai Emery's side waltzed away with the three crucial points in the title race, slashing the Gunners' lead at the top of the Premier League. Arsenal could have gone eight points clear, but following defeat to the Villans and Manchester City's 3-0 victory against Sunderland, they only have a two-point cushion.
Had Odegaard not ducked a duel in the final minutes, Arsenal could have at least salvaged a draw and given themselves some breathing room. Shortly before Buendia curled the ball into the top corner, the Gunners had Aston Villa penned in their own half.
Ian Maatsen was surrounded by three Arsenal players – Noni Madueke, Ben White, and Odegaard – yet he managed to wriggle out of the press and recycle possession. The Gunners captain was first on the scene and, rather than diving into a tackle, he showed the Aston Villa defender onto his preferred left foot.
Odegaard made no attempt to win the ball, which didn't go down well with Rice. The Arsenal midfielder was furious with his skipper, shouting and throwing his arms in the air before racing after the ball.
Rice managed to take the sting out of the sequence, pinning Boubacar Kamara in the middle of the park. Odegaard hardly covered himself in glory during the goalmouth scramble at the end of the game, either.
Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori threw their bodies on the line, but the Norway international didn't lift a finger. Odegaard watched on as Buendia pounced on the loose ball and beat Raya from close range.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Arteta refused to single anyone out but he slammed his players for a lax display. The Spaniard said: "Obviously, we are extremely disappointed with the way we lost the game.
"But first of all, congratulations to Villa, because they are a really good side and they are really good at what they do. We had some difficulties in the first half, especially with very unusual giveaways that we had given after regaining the ball, which is a really dangerous moment against them.
"But apart from the Watkins situation, which is a foul, I don't recall anything apart from the goal. In the second half, we started really well, much more positive, we generated chances to score the goal.
"My feeling was that we were going to go and win the game. "e could have lost it before, again, with two very dangerous individual giveaways. And we didn't.
"We had two chances to score, the last one when the ball crossed Declan and we didn't capitalise on that. The next ball kicked long, it was their second ball, we put it away for a throw-in.
"They play fast, a lot of chaos in the box and they managed to put the ball in the top corner, which is the quality of this league. That’s the summary."
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