Arsenal are back to the top of the table after beating Aston Villa 4-2 at Villa Park in a six-goal thriller. Arsenal went behind twice in the match after having a shaky start to the match but produced a brilliant second half that culminated in taking all three points on the evening.
Aston Villa took the lead in the 7th minute through Olly Watkins but Bukayo Saka scored a brilliant goal to put Arsenal back on level terms. Arsenal, who seemed like they had finally settled into the match after a slow start opened up their midfield and allowed Aston Villa to pass through and build up a second goal that was cooly slotted home by Philippe Coutinho in the 31st minute. The match went into the halftime break with Aston Villa leading.
In the second half, Arsenal came out rejuvenated with manager Mikel Arteta’s team talk and were all over Aston Villa’s players creating chances and looking for the equaliser. They finally got it through Oleksandr Zinchenko in the 61st minute after a short corner kick. This is Zinchenko’s first goal for Arsenal.
Arsenal knew they needed more than a draw from this match so they kept going but Aston Villa were determined to keep them at bay and looked like they were ready to settle for a draw if goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez’s time-wasting tactics are to go by. However, Arsenal had other plans.
With six minutes of added time, the match was mostly played in Aston Villa’s half and the Gunners were rewarded for their effort through Jorginho, whose powerful shot ricocheted off the cross bar to Martinez and made its way into the back of the net.
Aston Villa then got a corner kick in the 96th minute and Martinez came out of his goal to try and help his team score. Arsenal cleared the resulting corner and immediately mounted a counterattack through Fabio Vieira who set up Gabriel Martinelli to score in an empty net.
The 4-2 win moves Arsenal three points clear of Manchester City in second, and it is the first time Arsenal have beaten Unai Emery.
