Aston Villa vs. Arsenal final score: Villa, already moribund, look to be going moribunder

I'm not sure what we could have expected. Arsenal are rightfully challenging to be the best team in the Premier League right now and Aston Villa are (just as rightfully) the worst. The fact that this didn't turn out worse than it did is probably a good sign. And in a different universe, there might even be some positives to take from this match.

Like, for instance, the fact that Aston Villa played pretty evenly with Arsenal in the second half. Sure, it wasn't great. And sure, Arsenal weren't at their best. But still, hanging with Arsenal is good!

And then there was Jordan Veretout. He played quite well and showed the fire that other players were lacking. It's particularly fun knowing that he can take set pieces.

Or we could look at Carles Gil, who came on late and immediately played better than any Villa player had up until that point. Carles Gil is just really good and a lot of fun to watch. There's oodles of potential there.

But what good are a few positives when it's December 13 and your team has six points. Being positive is nice, and it may soon be all we have. In the here and now, though, it does absolutely nothing. We're further from safety today than we were yesterday. In that measure--which, right now, is the only one that matters--today was an abject failure. Giving up a penalty in the 8th minute probably sunk us, and giving up a second to Aaron Ramsey in the 38th definitely did.

So who cares if Adama came on (far too late) and IMMEDIATELY looked capable of scoring? The good signs are there, but they never seem to be built upon. Lessons never seem to be learned. And it's getting harder and harder to think that this team has any chance of surviving.