John McGinn’s seventh minute strike saw Aston Villa beat Arsenal 1-0 at Villa Park, which blew the Premier League title race wide open.
McGinn smashed in a seventh minute strike from Leon Bailey’s cutback pass to settle a tightly-fought contest.
Arsenal netted a 90th minute equaliser through Eddie Nketiah only for the goal to be disallowed due to handball from Kai Havertz.
Villa remain third in the table but now sit just one point behind Arsenal who dropped to second behind new league leaders, Liverpool.
“It was an amazing day with our amazing supporters here in Villa Park,” commented Villa manager – Unai Emery post match.
“The atmosphere we’re creating here is really brilliant and we are playing with 11 players and one more: our supporters. The fans are always transmitting their energy.
“Today we finished this week and the tough matches we’ve played with fantastic wins against Manchester City and Arsenal and an important draw at Bournemouth – sometimes when you can’t win it’s important to have the mentality to take a point.
“We are happy but we have to keep good balance in our minds. Okay, we are there (third in the table) but it’s only game 16. We have to try to enjoy and to do the way trying to improve and increase our level, trying to make our mentality better and better.”
Having edged past Manchester City in midweek and seen Liverpool win at Crystal Palace in the lunchtime kick-off, Villa knew that victory would put them right in the title mix with the more favourable run-in towards Xmas Day.
That prospect quickly motivated Villa as they began the match on the front foot and were quickly rewarded in the seventh minute, as Bailey started a breakaway up the right with two quick passes returned to him on the overlap.
The Jamaican international sprinted forward and found McGinn to collect his cutback pass from which the midfielder smashed into the bottom left corner on the half-turn, which sparked early celebrations amongst home supporters.
Villa subsequently sat back for much of the first half as Arsenal struggled to break their defence down, with only Bukayo Saka looking lively, as he saw several chances blocked whilst Gabriel Martinelli curled a 20th minute shot over the bar.
Emiliano Martinez meanwhile played his part for Villa as he saved shots from Saka and Martin Odegaard, although he got lucky in the 36th minute as Martinelli chipped a shot over the Argentinean only for Diego Carlos to clear the ball away from goal.
Villa soon threatened to extend their lead in the 40th minute as Youri Tielemans played Ollie Watkins forward, only for David Raya to make a crucial save to keep the Gunners in the match at half-time.
That reprieve almost went in Arsena’s favour just two minutes into the second half as Gabriel Jesus tussled with Douglas Luiz, during which he flicked the ball onto the arm of his Brazilian compatriot as he went to ground, but referee – Jarred Gillett wasn’t fooled and awarded no penalty.
Arsenal proceeded to dominate the opening phases of the second half during which Villa got lucky in the 57th minute as Martinez fumbled his clearance of a corner, only to regather the ball after it deflected onto the back of Watkins.
Odegaard then flicked a cutback pass wide of the bottom-right corner barely a minute later.
Arsenal’s poor end product almost got punished in the 61st minute as Villa substitute, Moussa Diaby broke forward up right, only to cut the ball across for the incoming Lucas Digne on the left but Raya saved the Frenchman’s shot.
Raya once again saved Arsenal’s blushes seven minutes later as Diaby teed up Watkins but the Englishman’s shot was saved by Raya, although the on-loan Spaniard initialy fumbled his save but regathered the ball after nobody followed up the loose ball.
Arsenal looked to had levelled in the 90th minute after Havertz teed up Nketiah to bundle in, albeit from the German’s handball using his right arm only for Gillett to disallow the goal.
Villa eventually kept Arsenal at bay to record a club-record 15th conseuctive league win at home since they lost to the Gunners in mid-February, with the victory having now put them just one point behind their visitors and two points off the summit.
What’s Next?
Villa head to Zrinjski Mostar on Thursday (14 December) at 5:45pm UK Time in their final UEFA Europa Conference League group match, before returning to league action away at Brentford in a 2pm GMT kick-off on Sunday 17 December.
Arsenal head to PSV in their concluding group match in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday 12 December at 5:45pm UK Time, before the Gunners host free-scoring Brighton at the Emirates Stadium in a Premier League clash at 2pm on 17 December.
Teams
Aston Villa: Emiliano Martinez, Ezri Konsa (Cash 66′), Diego Carlos, Pau Torres, Lucas Digne (Moreno 78′), Leon Bailey (Diaby 45′), Boubacar Kamara (Dendoncker 66′), Douglas Luiz, John McGinn, Youri Tielemans (Ramsey 56′), Ollie Watkins
Substitutes: Matty Cash, Alex Moreno, Clement Lenglet, Moussa Diaby, Nicolo Zaniolo, Jhon Duran, Leander Dendoncker, Jacob Ramsey, Filip Marschall
Arsenal: David Raya, Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel, Oleksandar Zinchenko, Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus (Nketiah 82′), Gabriel Martinelli (Trossard 70′)
Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Eddie Nketiah, Jakub Kiwior, Cedric Soares, Leandro Trossard, Jorginho, Reiss Nelson, Mohammed Elneny, Reuell Walters
Referee: Jarred Gillett
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