Arsenal missed the chance to move top of the Premier League following a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday evening.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard got rewarded for their displays against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League in midweek by the Gunners boss Mikel Arteta.
There weren’t a lot of openings as many anticipated before Jesus headed intoi the side-netting at the back-post following Bukayo Saka’s floated cross.
Jesus again came up from the other angle of the area this time and cut inside to have a curling shot right in the box blocked and ultimately cleared.
Villa pulled the biggest scare of the half past the 34th minute of action as Ollie Watkins ran clear following a mis-timed ball and fired against the base of the post.
Trossard went close to handing Arsenal the lead right at the other end when his first-time shot from the area drew a point-blank save from Villa’s World Cup winning goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Villa shaded the possession stakes over ten minutes since returning from the tunnel, but lacked the efficiency to unsettle the Gunners in the final third of the pitch.
The Clarets hit the crossbar for the second time in the match at the midway stage of the half when Youri Tielemans nicked possession off Zinchenko and curled off the crossbar.
Arteta provided a double change a few minutes later, with Trossard taken off for Gabriel Martinelli to come on and Takehiro Tomiyasu hailed in for Ben White.
Villa got in front six minutes to full-time when second-half substitute Leon Bailey arrived at the back-post to meet Lucas Digne’s cross and bundled in.
Watkins added a second goal in the final two minutes after meeting a ball in-behind from Tielemans to beat Emile Smith Rowe in a one-on-one and dink over David Raya.
The Gunners were completely out of sight following the late blow from Unai Emery’s men and suffered a disappointing defeat which dents their title hopes.
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