Arsenal saw their Premier League title hopes get back on track following a dramatic late win against Aston Villa. The Gunners had twice equalised after Villa had taken the lead before Jorginho launched an effort towards goal that struck the bar before hitting the back of Emi Martinez's head to nestle in the net, Gabriel Martinelli then sealed the victory deep into added time.
After a run of four games in all competitions without a win, Mikel Arteta would have wanted to see a fast start from his players at Villa Park, but he instead got the opposite. With just five minutes on the clock Ollie Watkins put the hosts in front with a fierce close-range effort.
Bukayo Saka levelled the game 11 minutes later with a thunderous strike, but Villa were in front at the break when Phillipe Coutinho, making his first start under Unai Emery, swept home. Arsenal came out fighting in the second half though and Oleksandr Zinchenko subsequently scored his first Premier League goal with a driven effort from the edge of the box following a short corner routine.
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With the minutes ticking down it looked set to be another missed opportunity for Arsenal with Man City facing Nottingham Forest later in the day. But up stepped deadline day signing Jorginho, with a tinge of luck, to put the visitors in front for the first time in the game. Martinelli then dribbled the ball into an empty net after Martinez sprinted up to the other end for a last minute Villa corner.
Another game without a victory looked set to happen for Arsenal, but fight and determination was certainly on show from Arteta's men in Birmingham. Here is how the National media reacted to their dramatic win at Villa Park.
The Guardian
Three touches. Three impacts. Three distinct noises. The whip of a perfectly struck football off the meat of Jorginho’s boot. The symphonic clank of the Villa Park crossbar. The dull thud as it clattered off the skull of a blameless Emiliano Martínez. Perhaps this is what salvation sounds like. Those three noises were immediately engulfed by a fourth: the sound of the travelling Arsenal fans shrieking in disbelief, as if rescued from the depths of a despair they feared they might never escape.
Three points for Arsenal, then, and back to the top of the league they go, just as everyone expected. And yet nothing about this felt simple or preordained. Indeed, until Martínez’s own goal in the third minute of injury time it felt as if their race might well be run, right here in the Birmingham suburbs.
Aston Villa led early, led again, hit the bar on 82 minutes, and three points here would not have disgraced them. Instead they lost by two clear goals, Gabriel Martinelli rolling the ball into an empty net with Martínez – who had gone up for a corner – again an unwitting spectator. Martínez served Arsenal with distinction for almost a decade. But they have probably never loved him more than they did at that moment.
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Daily Mail
Little by little, the dream had been slipping away. Arsenal had come from behind twice at Villa Park but Martin Odegaard had missed an open goal with 12 minutes left and it appeared two more precious points in the title race would be dropped. It was an afternoon to stop and watch in grim fascination as Arsenal’s challenge imploded. A football match turned into a rubberneckers’ convention.
And then everything changed. Three minutes into added time, the ball was laid across the face of the Aston Villa area to Jorginho and he smashed an unstoppable drive over the dive of Emiliano Martinez. Arsenal hearts soared and then sank as the ball cannoned down off the bar. But as Martinez fell to earth, the ball bounced down on to the back of his head and rolled across the goal line.
The Arsenal fans corralled in the section adjacent to the goal went wild. With their former boss Unai Emery now in charge at Villa, Arsenal had been set up to be the victims of the law-of-the-ex here.
Instead, they made that law work for them instead. Martinez was once the keeper at the Emirates and has not endeared himself to Arsenal fans since his move. The travelling supporters took particular delight in his despair.
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The Mirror
It looked like it would be five games without a win in all competitions for Arsenal with their title challenge has been seriously dented. But they dug deep in stunning fashion to put their title challenge back on track with a remarkable win.
They now move clear of Manchester City at the top of the table, with a game in hand over Pep Guardiola's side. The luck was on their side at Villa Park, something that all title winners need to have.
Mikel Arteta can finally sleep soundly, with his side's title challenge firmly back on track. They are now back in control of the title race, with the manner of Saturday's win likely to feed into their momentum.
Having endured their worst run of form of the season and seen Coutinho put Aston Villa back in-front, Arsenal's squad may have been forgiven for dropping their heads. Instead though, the Gunners carried on fighting and scrapping to get back into the game.
They had to wait until Zinchenko's goal to do so, but it was a mark of the strength of the Gunners' character they though continued to fight. Their desire to continue fighting will boost Mikel Arteta following a difficult few weeks.
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