Gabriel Martinelli rubbed salt into the wounds of Aston Villa before netting Arsenal's fourth goal of the afternoon. Desperate for an equaliser, Emi Martinez joined his teammates in the Gunners' box for a corner late into injury time.
But, the home side's risk didn't quite go to plan and Unai Emery quickly regretted giving the Argentine permission to venture out of his own half when William Saliba headed the ball upfield. The Arsenal defender's clearance launched a two-versus-two counter-attack, with Fabio Vieira and Martinelli galloping forward.
The Portugal international, unselfishly, threaded a delicately weighted through ball into the path of the Gunners winger with only an open net in front of him. Before doubling Arsenal's advantage, Martinelli prematurely celebrated by throwing his arms in the air — just as Ross Barkley did for Everton in 2017 and Tomas Rosicky for Borussia Dortmund in 2006.
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Speaking to the press after the game, Arteta showered the Brazil international with praise for his impressive performance off the bench. The Spaniard said: "It’s not dropping him! He’s played every single minute.
"You don’t see players at his age doing that. We have three 21-year-olds leading the front line. It’s unheard of. Leo (Trossard) has been doing really well and we needed impact.
"I was really worried about the last 25 minutes of this game after everything that we put on Wednesday. We needed energy and we needed a player that could do that. I thought we did it."
Arteta issued his verdict on the six-goal thriller as Arsenal continue to defend their place at the top of the Premier League. The Gunners boss said: "It’s difficult now because it’s been a rollercoaster and was very emotional at the end.
"I think we showed a lot of resilience character and quality. The context of the game was difficult, with the performance that we had against City and having to come here after less than 72 hours and then after 5 minutes you are down.
"Then you have to play the next 90 minutes like we are as a team right now," Arteta added. "We had some difficulties in the first half collectively and individually we brought the level right down and we stopped doing the simple things right.
"At half time we said the moment is now, we have to raise the individual level, we have to look each other in the face if we want to come out and win the game because we can. Then we altered a few things and we produced a very strong performance. Probably we should have won it earlier than we have done."
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