Assessment from last night

Obviously it's disappointing not to get a result from City, but realistically it was always a big ask. If we do let it slip, it won't have been because of yesterday. The Evertons and the Brentfords and our failure to win those - that's the key.

We're joint top on points, and we have a game in hand, so of course we can still do it. But if we don't learn anything, we definitely won't be up there in the months time. Individual mistakes and individual or performances cost us yesterday, in spite of what I thought was overall a good showing. The individual errors have to end.

Without wanting to make excuses, I do have to point to the ridiculous winter World Cup. It bisected our season and cost us one of our key strikers. Our form has suffered since. This is not coincidence. The Villa game - against a former manager and former goalkeeper - just got exponentially more important.

Ramsdale - Not at fault for any of the goals but didn't have a world beater either. Made an excellent save but it was ruled offside anyway. As he needed to be.

Zinchenko - Fits and starts. Had some great moments, especially attacking, and some slightly slack ones. City exploited his side of the pitch a little as he tired late on.

Tomiyasu - Horrid backpass, so bad partly because nobody expected him to be the one to make a mistake. Otherwise he actually played reasonably well, the deflected goal was because of a lunge he had to make.

Saliba - My Arsenal player of the match. Had Haaland under wraps for long periods and I don't think he could be reasonably faulted for any of the goals. I really like him.

Gabriel - Got away with one for the penalty but didn't learn from it. Did poorly in giving the ball away for one of the goals. Clearly a very talented player but has moments of rashness. Haaland could have gone for elbowing him.

Odegaard - Had his moments but I felt he was generally quiet by his standards. Not a bad game, but not a big game when we could have done with it.

Xhaka - As with Odegaard, not a bad performance but not his best and he made a poor judgement in holding off on a shot which allowed Dias to make the tackle. Played a few dangerous chipped passes in from the left which our forwards failed to fully capitalise on.

Jorginho - Other than that cross-shot, I genuinely forgot he was on the field. He didn't do much wrong but didn't do an awful lot at all. Seemed to go missing when City got their dangerous breaks.

Martinelli - Not a great game by his standards. Absent for long periods and then didn't create a lot when he got into the game. Subbing him was probably the right thing.

Saka - His usual industrious self. Silva should have been carded much sooner for repeatedly fouling him. City were afraid of him and he didn't let up all game long. Ice cold for the penalty.

Nketiah - So wasteful. Other than winning the penalty, he missed two glaring chances where he absolutely had to make Ederson work. He puts himself about and doesn't give up but he is wasting far too many big chances.

Trossard - Looked lively when he came on. He showed fighting spirit despite his size and gave us a bit more spark in attack.

White, Vieira - Each had their little moments but not really on long enough to make much impact.