Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard will be livid with the circumstances of Arsenal's goal in Saturday's Premier League encounter, BT Sport pundit Joe Cole has said. 

The lowdown

Villa lost 1-0 to Mikel Arteta's side in the lunchtime clash, with Bukayo Saka's first half goal proving the difference. It stemmed from a wide free-kick, with Villa failing to clear the danger and the 20-year-old firing in from the edge of the penalty area.

It was the 11th time Villa have conceded from a set-piece situation this season, the joint-fifth worst record in the Premier League (via WhoScored).

The latest

Cole said that Gerrard will be 'furious' that Arsenal were able to outnumber Villa on the right-hand side as they took the free kick short and worked the ball into the penalty area.

He feels it was inevitable that they would be punished, saying at half-time on BT Sport's live coverage: "From Steven Gerrard's perspective, he'll be furious with that. If you get a three on two [situation] in that kind of area, you're going to get hurt."

The verdict

Perhaps Villa should have been more alert to the danger, but surely the bigger source of frustration will be his team's lack of attacking threat for the first hour of the game.

Alarmingly, they weren't able to muster a single shot in that period. John McGinn finally broke their duck with an effort from outside the box around the 60-minute mark. They had a 47% share of the possession too, but they struggled to do anything meaningful with it.

From Gerrard's point of view, it proved to be too comfortable an afternoon for the visitors, and as Cole said, he will surely be raging over the nature of the decisive goal from Saka.

In other news, Gregg Evans issues a Villa Park contract prediction