Arsenal fall at Aston Villa

Arsenal became the next victim of Aston Villa when they lost 0-1 at Villa Park in round 16 of the Premier League and lost the top spot to Liverpool.

The only goal came in the 7th minute, when Leon Bailey broke free down the right flank, confronted Gabriel Magalhaes and crossed to John McGinn in the penalty area. The midfielder wearing the number 7 shirt turned and finished with his left foot into the far corner, past goalkeeper David Raya.

John McGinn (No. 7) scores in Aston Villa's 1-0 win over Arsenal in the 16th round of the Premier League at Villa Park on December 9. Photo: Reuters

McGinn's strike helped Aston Villa reach a number of impressive milestones. They became only the fifth club in Premier League history to have a 15-game winning streak at home.

Unai Emery became the fifth manager to achieve this feat with a single club, after Sir Alex Ferguson, Roberto Mancini, Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola. Emery won 26, drew 6 and lost 9 in 41 Premier League games in charge of Aston Villa, more than he had during his time at Arsenal, when he won 25, drew 13 and lost 13.

Aston Villa are also the fourth team to win consecutive games against the top two clubs in the Premier League last season, repeating the feat of Liverpool in December 2000, Southampton in May 2001 and Man Utd in December 2002.

Thanks to that, Aston Villa continues to fly high in the rankings. Emery's team is firmly in third place with 35 points, one and two points behind Arsenal and Liverpool respectively. In the next round, Aston Villa will visit Brentford, while Arsenal will return home to face Brighton.

Yesterday, Arsenal suffered the same fate as defending champions Man City at Villa Park in midweek, despite playing better and creating more chances. The "Gunners" had 61% possession, 12 shots with five on target - compared to 10 and 3 for Aston Villa.

Bukayo Saka was disappointed after Arsenal lost 0-1 to Aston Villa at Villa Park in the 16th round of the Premier League on December 9. Photo: Reuters

After conceding the goal, Arsenal poured forward to attack, creating many storms towards the home team's goal, especially at the end of the first half. In the 32nd minute, Bukayo Saka passed Pau Torres and then curled the ball with his strong left foot, but the ball was not dangerous enough to defeat Emiliano Martinez.

Two minutes later, captain midfielder Martin Odegaard's left-footed shot from outside the box went wide. In the 39th minute, Gabriel Jesus created a wall for Odegaard to comfortably hold the ball and adjust the shooting angle in the box. But the Norwegian midfielder still could not beat Martinez. Two minutes later, it was Gabriel Jesus' turn to miss with a shot from a tight angle that was blocked by the Aston Villa goalkeeper.

In the second half, Arsenal maintained their attacking rhythm and twice put the ball into Aston Villa's net, but both were disallowed. In the 62nd minute, from a through ball from Declan Rice, Saka broke through, passed Martinez and shot into an empty goal. But the linesman raised his flag for offside.

In the 90th minute, from Odegaard's cross, Kai Havertz tried to compete with Matty Cash and then put the ball into the net. But the goal was again denied because the German player let the ball touch his hand.

Gabriel (left) and Havertz (right) protested against referee Jarred Gillett when he refused to recognize a goal for Arsenal in the 90th minute of their 0-1 loss to Aston Villa at Villa Park in the 16th round of the Premier League on December 6. Photo: Reuters — Gabriel (left) and Havertz (right) protested against referee Jarred Gillett when he refused to recognize a goal for Arsenal in the 90th minute of their 0-1 loss to Aston Villa at Villa Park in the 16th round of the Premier League on December 6. Photo: *Reuters*

After this defeat, Arsenal will return to Emirates Stadium to host Brighton in round 17 on December 17. They still have an away match at PSV in the final round of Group B of the Champions League on December 13, but this is just a formality, because Arteta's team has secured first place in the group with 12 points after five matches, four points more than PSV.

Line-up :

Aston Villa : Martinez, Konsa (Cash 66), Carlos, Torres, Digne (Moreno 78), Bailey (Diaby 46), Luiz, Tielemans (Ramsey 56), McGinn, Kamara (Dendoncker 66), Watkins.

Arsenal : Raya, Ben White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko (Nelson 90), Rice, Odegaard, Havertz, Saka, Martinelli (Trossard 70), Jesus (Nketiah 82).

Hong Duy

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