A frank exchange of views in the Arsenal dressing room at half‑time proved the foundation for their spectacular late comeback against Aston Villa. Arsenal returned to the top of the Premier League on Saturday lunchtime by coming back from 2-1 down to win 4-2, with the key moment a freak own goal in the third minute of added time by Emiliano Martínez after Jorginho’s shot had hit the bar. But in the euphoria of the victory Mikel Arteta sounded a note of concern on his team’s limp first-half performance, in which they twice fell behind.
He sent his players out early for the second half and elaborated on what was said. “We have to raise our individual level, look each other in the face and do much, much more if we want to win,” he said. “In the first half we didn’t do the simple things right. In the second half we dominated. We needed a magic moment and Jorginho produced it.
“If you want to be at the top, you have to win games in different ways. At some stage you’re going to have to win games in the 94th and the 96th minute, you have to score when you are down to 10 men, you have to score from set-pieces. I think we showed a lot of resilience, character and quality. The dressing room is bouncing.”
Jorginho confirmed that some choice words were spoken. “We had a chat at half-time and went back to doing the basics,” he said. “We changed the game. That’s why the Premier League is the best league in the world. It’s just beautiful, and important after the last results we have had.”
Victory ended a run of four games without a win in all competitions for Arsenal, which saw their eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League wiped out by Manchester City. “We just need to believe to the very end that we can achieve everything,” was the verdict of Oleksandr Zinchenko, whose long-range shot levelled the game at 2-2. “This group is such amazing people. The reaction in the second half was perfect and the right way to go in future games. We just need to keep fighting.”
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For a crestfallen Aston Villa, meanwhile, it was a third successive defeat, with 11 goals conceded in those games. “I don’t know what happened, I don’t know what went wrong,” said a stunned Ollie Watkins.
“A good team punished us. Two‑all with five minutes to go, we should see the game out. Jorginho’s goal was lucky, but they had a lot of the ball and kept putting pressure on us. It’s disappointing, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
