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Aston Villa 2-4 Arsenal: 3 talking points as Gunners complete epic comeback
By Adam Schultz
Arsenal secured a 4-2 victory over Aston Villa in a vintage Premier League encounter. A poor first half saw the Gunners trail, but three second-half goals saw Arsenal complete an astonishing comeback.
Mikel Arteta made two changes from the side that lost 3-1 to Manchester City, with Ben White and Leandro Trossard coming in for Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel Martinelli.
Villa took the lead five minutes in as Ollie Watkins pounced on a long ball, took a touch, drove into the box, and unleashed his shot across Aaron Ramsdale.
Arsenal wasn’t behind for long as Bukayo Saka brought his team level. After a poor clearance from Tyrone Mings that fell to Saka, the Englishman unleashed a vicious volley past Emi Martinez.
Villa were back in front thanks to Phillipe Coutinho. The Brazilian was on the end of a great move after a Buendia dummy, and the former Liverpool star took a touch and slotted past Ramsdale.
BIG. THREE. POINTS. pic.twitter.com/REx0sb1RpF
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 18, 2023
After sustained pressure in the second half, Arsenal drew level. A nicely worked corner routine found the Ukrainian, who hit his shot first time past Martinez to give the Gunners life.
The Gunners found the winner through Jorginho’s thunderous strike that was credited as a Martinez own goal. Just minutes later, with Villa chasing the game, Martinez came up for a corner, and Arsenal broke with devastating effect as Martinelli slotted into an empty net.
Aston Villa 2-4 Arsenal: 3 talking points as Gunners complete epic comeback
Arsenal then held on for a mammoth three points to go top of the league. The game provided plenty of talking points, here they are.
1. Arsenal back on top of the league
With victory at Villa, Arsenal moved back to the top of the league table and extended their lead to two points with a game in hand after City were pegged back at Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon.
Having seen top spot be relinquished after defeat to City last time out, Arsenal needed to dig deep and found a way to win what could prove to be a vital three points in the title race.
Continued on the next slide…