Leandro Trossard too ‘upset’ at being left on bench to celebrate goal

Mikel Arteta revealed that Leandro Trossard was upset over not starting at Villa Park before he refused to celebrate his crucial goal to send Arsenal towards victory.

Trossard took less than two minutes to find the net after coming off the bench, with Thomas Partey also scoring to maintain Arsenal’s 100 per cent start to the Premier League campaign.

Arteta praised Trossard’s reaction to being benched in favour of Gabriel Martinelli. The Belgium forward, 29, has made as many Premier League sub appearances as starts since joining from Brighton two seasons ago.

“When you don’t get picked, there are certain ways to react,” said Arteta. “Leo is upset, but he is upset and shows on the pitch how good he is – not upset and come in and react badly. That is a huge quality.

“Then, when you put him in the starting line-up, he does exactly the same thing. That is a big message and a big example for the rest of the team and myself. We have two great left wingers and Reiss Nelson can also play in that position so it is always a challenge but you know you are going to get that quality.”

Victory against Villa came despite the absence of Gabriel Jesus, with Arteta sweating on his fitness and whether he could miss the next weeks of action.

The Brazil forward pulled up in training this week with a groin problem and will need a scan on the injury. Eddie Nketiah, who was subject of a bid from Nottingham Forest last week, was on the bench at Villa Park and could be needed if Jesus’s injury is bad.

“Unfortunately on Thursday in a training session, just at the end he [Jesus] felt something in his groin so we need to assess him and have an MRI scan to see. We have to see, we will have the results in the next two days and will see if it a matter of days or weeks,” said Arteta.

”At the moment Eddie is our player, he is very committed to us regardless of all the noise. He is here and wants to be here with us and it really happy that we won the game.”

Before Trossard’s goal, the turning point of the game was a stunning save from David Raya to deny Ollie Watkins, with the Arsenal goalkeeper behind his own goal-line as Watkins looked to head into the net after Amadou Onana’s shot hit the bar.

“I thought it was a goal because I saw the reaction of the defensive line – there was none. The ball came off the crossbar and normally it is goal but David’s reaction is unbelievable,” said Arteta.

Villa manager Unai Emery felt the game turned with the save, adding: “If we score one goal then maybe we win the match. I accept the result today because I think we are doing our way and trying to improve our things and develop as well. It is the second day in the Premier League and we can learn and improve more.”