Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal (McGinn 7’)
VILLA PARK — A second 1-0 but this was no carbon copy. This time Aston Villa required grit and some fortune to beat Arsenal just three days after thoroughly outplaying Manchester City.
This time Villa went ahead in the first half through John McGinn, a deserved lead at the time which then gave the match a different complexion to the win over City.
This time the visitors pushed and pushed, recording 12 attempts and dominating the second half. They even had the ball in the back of the net twice, but after this ground held its breath and VAR backed Jarred Gillet’s handball call on Kai Havertz to deny Eddie Nketiah a late equaliser – the place erupted.
Villa Park has not been bouncing like this for years. Now two points off top in the Premier League after a double to remember, their fans are daring to dream with Unai Emery at the wheel. Title contenders? It still feels like a stretch, even as close as they are, but a part of you wants to say why not, with home form like this, and even if they start to aim higher – the fallback of fourth still means Champions League football.
And naturally, Emery isn’t getting carried away. “I will speak again when we are in game 30-32 and if we are in the same position as now then maybe I can speak about it,” he said afterwards.
“At the start we are not a contender, it is only game 16. We are in (the top four) and must try to keep it. It is difficult, we are not dominating matches like we are here.”
For City and Arsenal, meanwhile, it’s as you were. Neither side gaining an advantage at Villa in a rare week where both travelled to the same ground. City can close the gap at Luton on Sunday, and while Liverpool will be celebrating too – Jurgen Klopp’s side outright top after their late win at Crystal Palace – Arsenal can take heart from this performance, with Mikel Arteta – up in the stands due to a suspension – believing his team were the better side and potentially denied a penalty when Douglas Luiz appeared to clip Gabriel Jesus.
“Clear and obvious,” is all Arteta would say in the press conference when asked about that decision and the late Havertz handball. Asked to clarify what he meant, he repeated “clear and obvious” before adding, “that’s my opinion, it’s all I can say”.
Given it was unclear what Arteta actually felt about these decisions, another question followed but was quickly dismissed, evidently a tact to avoid giving a lengthier answer so as to not potentially fall foul of the FA. Perhaps Pep Guardiola’s “I will not do a Mikel Arteta comment” from last weekend was on his mind, too.
On their performance and the result, Arteta added: “Very disappointed, especially the way we played. We deserved much more, we were the better team. We lacked accuracy in the opponent’s box.
“There’s not much more we can demand from the team, the way they’ve done. I’m pleased but disappointed about the result.
“It was a bit windy today, a lot of misplaced balls and not having the accuracy.”
Villa made a confident start but the first big chance fell for Arsenal, with Bukayo Saka unable to connect properly with Gabriel Martinelli’s cross.
And then inside seven minutes Villa were ahead, a goal made by their midfielders as Boubacar Kamara and Youri Tielemans combined and found Leon Bailey, who in turn picked out John McGinn.
The captain’s turn and strike beat David Raya and soon it became a far cry from Wednesday, given Villa had only scored against City in the 74th minute.
This time it was about game management, and weathering the storm. First Emiliano Martinez saved from Saka, then from Martin Odegaard, who from roughly 12 yards out is so often clinical.
The atmosphere was now a shade nervier than three days ago, with Arsenal finding more pockets of space than Pep Guardiola’s side could, and as they began the second half on top if felt as though it could be a long 45 minutes for Villa.
There was a misunderstanding at the back as Martinez flapped at a cross after teammate Ollie Watkins put him off, while Odegaard then dragged his shot – an effort that normally goes in from Arsenal’s skipper.
Villa were left to try and threaten on the counter, but Arsenal had the better chances. They had the ball in the net when Saka beat Martinez to the ball and rolled it in, but the offside flag was shown and proved to be the right call.
As Arsenal pressed for an equaliser, again they thought they had scored through Eddie Nketiah, but Gillet blew his whistle for a Havertz handball and after a lengthy VAR check, the on-field decision remained.
Cue delirium, a noise at the full-time whistle and for some times afterwards that has rarely been heard at Villa Park in recent years. Five years ago this week they were drawing 2-2 at West Brom at the Championship. Now they’ve just beaten the champions and their supposed nearest rivals. Now we have a four-horse race, however temporary that may be.