An Arsenal analyst was kicked out of the Villa Park press box by a steward after the away team’s celebrations sparked fury from Aston Villa staff in the stands.
Arsenal scored twice in added time to secure a dramatic 4-2 win which sent them back to the top of the Premier League table in Saturday’s early kick-off. It looked to be heading for a draw, but Jorginho’s shot cannoned off the woodwork before hitting Emiliano Martinez to make it 3-2.
Gabriel Martinelli then scored into an empty net on the break after Martinez went up for a corner to seal the win and trigger a jubilant reaction from Mikel Arteta and his staff on the touchline. It also sparked some unsavoury scenes in the stands, where Arsenal and Villa’s analysts clashed in the press box.
The celebrations of the away team’s staff sparked anger among the Villa contingent and meant stewards had to get involved to calm things down. Villa match analyst Victor Manas was fuming and had to be held back from a physical altercation with Arsenal counterpart Miguel Molina.
Speaking to the press after the match, Arteta said: "Anything that happens in the stands, we will look at it and address it." Villa boss Unai Emery added: “I don’t know anything about it. I will have to ask what happened.”
The confrontation is particularly interesting, given that Manas used to work at Arsenal during Unai Emery’s time in charge of the team in 2018 and 2019. The incident left a bitter taste between the two sides, which had been evident on the pitch too.
The Villa fans had been booing Bukayo Saka throughout the match following a poor challenge by the Arsenal winger. Meanwhile, Arsenal and their supporters were frustrated by Martinez’s attempts to slow down the match through time wasting, for which he was booked.
Ultimately, though, it was all about the final score, which ended a run of four games without a win in all competitions for Arsenal. Villa took the lead through Ollie Watkins’ low finish before Saka smashed in an equaliser after the hosts failed to clear.
Philippe Coutinho made it 2-1 to Villa with a controlled finish from a flowing Villa move before Oleksandr Zinchenko equalised again for Arsenal by rifling in from a well-worked corner. Aaron Ramsdale tipped Leon Bailey’s effort onto the bar before the Gunners produced a stunning finish.
Emery was irritated by Martinez’s decision to go up for Villa’s last-minute corner, which allowed Fabio Vieira to send Martinelli through to score into an empty net. Emery told BT Sport: “I have never told my goalkeeper to go and score one goal in the 90th minute, because maybe – and I don’t know the data – maybe one goal in 100, maybe 20 times they [the opponents] are doing a counter transition and they are scoring 10 goals.
“Today, it happened. And for me it’s not being very smart, not being very consistent in how we want to play, how we want to compete. We can play, we can lose 2-3, but 2-4? It’s not a good result.”
