Mikel Arteta had acknowledged the hazards that awaited Arsenal, the Premier League’s pacesetters, at Villa Park. Aston Villa inflicted irrecoverable damage on his side in January, Unai Emery’s team rallying from two goals down to earn a point at the Emirates Stadium, a result that left Arsenal lagging behind Liverpool and with too much ground to make up in the title race.
Two seasons ago Villa did the double over Arsenal, two late goals earning an away victory in the final weeks of the season that paved the way for Manchester City to pip Arteta’s side to the crown.
So Arteta and Arsenal knew the challenge of unpicking a Villa side that had won 12 of their previous 14 matches in all competitions, including eight of their previous nine league matches. Emery equally knew the difficulty of overcoming an Arsenal side who had won 17 of their 21 matches this season and seemingly addressed perceived weaknesses in the summer.
Even with Cristhian Mosquera absent with an ankle injury, meaning Jurriën Timber partnered Piero Hincapié at centre-back, they did not look short of quality. It was, of course, Emery whom Arteta succeeded six years ago, tasked with the ultimate aim of reclaiming a title that has eluded them since 2003-04.
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Have Villa now inserted themselves into the race? The way this place went utterly berserk after the substitute Emiliano Buendía hauled himself off the turf to force the ball in amid a 94th-minute scramble inside the Arsenal box to clinch a ninth victory in 10 matches suggests so. Emiliano Martínez, the former Arsenal goalkeeper, rushed to drink in the winner with the rest of his Villa teammates who formed a throbbing celebratory huddle on halfway. It is fair to say this game, between teams now first and second in the table separated by only three points – particularly remarkable after Villa’s slow start to the campaign – lived up to its billing.
Villa seized a first-half lead through an increasingly reliable source: the full-back Matty Cash. Eight minutes after Declan Rice played firefighter, racing from right to left to block Cash’s vicious potentially goalbound shot, the Villa right-back throttled another effort through the legs of David Raya after Timber flicked on Pau Torres’s cross. Emery clenched both fists as every outfield Villa player followed Cash to the corner flag, where he performed his golf-swing celebration.
Arteta did not wait to make changes, introducing Viktor Gyökeres and Leandro Trossard at the interval in place of Eberechi Eze and Mikel Merino. Trossard whistled a 50th-minute volley narrowly wide of Martínez’s left post after arriving unmarked at the back post to meet Martin Ødegaard’s chipped cross and a couple of minutes later the substitute sparked bedlam in the away end. Declan Rice, passed fit, overpowered Amadou Onana on halfway and Ødegaard then freed an overlapping Bukayo Saka. Villa were on the back foot and while Martínez got his right glove to Saka’s ball across the box, Trossard was on hand to feast on the leftovers, lashing in inside the six-yard box.
“Do your business, win your games and then see what happens,” Arteta had said beforehand but while Arsenal were in the ascendancy after levelling, Villa would not lay down. The substitute Donyell Malen, another formerly of Arsenal, flashed a shot wide and Martínez earlier got fingertips to a dipping Ødegaard effort. The finale was reserved for Buendía to score with almost the last kick. - Guardian
