Bukayo Saka has praised Arsenals defensive work as the foundation of their 1-0 win at Aston Villa on Bank Holiday Monday, insisting the champions showed exactly the kind of resilience required to mount a serious title defence. Sakas close-range finish just before the hour mark was the difference between the sides at Villa Park, the winger converting Riccardo Calafioris low cross after a slick move that released the pair of them in behind a high Villa line. It was Arsenals second consecutive win and second consecutive clean sheet to open the new campaign, with Mikel Arteta marking his 250th Premier League game in charge of the club with maximum points.Very, very tough game. Its not easy coming here, they made it hard for us. It feels even better to come out with the win, Saka said.The way they defend, really compact and with a high line, they caught us offside. We had to adapt to that. Different from what we faced last week, we werent able to implement our attacking pattern.One goal is normally enough for us because we are so solid at the back. When we got the first one, it actually opened the game up. We wanted to push for the second one.The winger singled out Arsenals full-back play as a key contributor to their attacking threat, before returning to the theme of their defensive performance as the matchs defining feature.All the full-backs, the way they play gives us a lot. For us wingers, it opens up the game for us, weve always got composure in the box, he said.We werent at our highest level with the ball. Without it, we were incredible. As soon as we lost it, we were running back. We knew that they liked to play in transition. All the boys put in a shift tonight. It helps with a clean sheet.Arteta on squad depthVilla offered precious little in terms of attacking threat throughout, they have not registered a shot on target in either of their two opening Premier League fixtures, the first time any team has achieved that since Swansea City in 2017-18. Arsenal, however, could not afford complacency against a side stung by the 4-0 defeat to Brighton on the opening weekend, and Arteta acknowledged as much.This is a really difficult place to come and win the game. Last season we lost in the last kick of the game. They were hurt after what happened last week. It was a great squad performance tonight, he said.Arteta was asked whether this represents his strongest-ever squad in terms of depth.That is what we need. The players that come in make the difference. All of them contributed to create more dominance and more momentum, he said.The level of focus and the way they want to contribute to the team, that is going to be decisive in the season. Topics Arsenal F.C. Bukayo Saka Add us as a preferred source on Google If you enjoy reading this article, you can help support our independent football journalism by adding 101 Great Goals as a preferred source You Should Also Read Aston Villa 0-1 Arsenal: Report, result and goals as Saka seals three points for Gunners Mitch Fretton 31st August, 2026 LIVE Aston Villa v Arsenal: Commentary, updates, goals and stats Jon Fisher 31st August, 2026 Aston Villa vs Arsenal live: Confirmed teams in Premier League Mitch Fretton 31st August, 2026 Aston Villa v Arsenal: Preview, expected line-ups, stats and where to watch Mitch Fretton 30th August, 2026 Champions League: Arsenal to face Real Madrid and Bayern Munich Tom Rostance 27th August, 2026 When is the Champions League draw? Date, time, schedule, where to watch Ben Miller 26th August, 2026
