Never Gunn JORGINHO AND MARTINELLI HE R give it up LP SEND ARTETA BACK TO TOP
THIS is the stuff champions are made of.
Just 63 hours after a gutwrenching defeat to their main Premier League title rivals, Mikel Arteta urged his men to rise from the canvas. Knocked down inside the opening five minutes and struck by another sucker-punch before the interval, the Gunners looked out for the count. But perhaps stung at the prospect of seeing their campaign implode they refused to lie down, and with the countdown looming landed a killer blow. It was drama of the highest order that sealed it in the third minute of injury time when the two sides had shared four goals.
Set up by Gabriel Martinelli, Jorginho let fly with a first-time shot from the edge of the area. The ball cannoned onto the crossbar, bounced down, hit Villa keeper Emi Martinez on the head and bounced over the goalline.
Cue bedlam in the visiting enclosure, in the dug-outs and in the press box where two sets of club analysts had to be separated by stewards.
Still the game wasn’t over. Villa
had a corner, Martinez went up for it – hoping to pen a fairy-tale ending – only to see Fabio Vieira escape upfield with the ball and feed Martinelli who ran it into an empty net.
Cue another bout of unfettered joy for the league leaders.
Arteta (left) could hardly keep the smile off his face – and why should he? The Spaniard said: “It’s been a roller coaster and it was emotional at the end. We showed resilience, quality and character.
“It was difficult. With getting nothing out of the performance against Manchester City, you come here 72 hours later and are one down inside five minutes.
“At half-time I said to the guys, ‘We have to look ea other in the face an do much more to win’.
“We altered one or two things and produced a very strong performance and should have won earlier than we did.”
Asked if this was t of champions, he a have to win games in t 96th minutes, you a have to score from set when you’re down to
“They showed a lot quality that we need
This was a cracker p front of a packed Ho visiting celeb Villa fan
(inset). The tone was set inside the first five minutes when Ollie Watkins collected Matt Cash’s pass and had William Saliba ahead of him but one quick step-over and cross-shot later, Villa were in front. The visitors regained their composure and were pressing but were given a huge helping hand by Tyrone Mings. He inexplicably headed Ben White’s cross into play and Bukayo Saka smashed the gift into the roof of the net. At this stage, Villa were rocking but then somehow managed to produce the goal of the game.
Boubacar Kamara exchanged passes with Philippe Coutinho and set Alex Moreno clear down the left.
The Spaniard’s pull-back was stepped over by Emi Buendia for Coutinho to control coolly and finish from the edge of the area, registering his first goal since the final day of last season.
Arsenal continued on the front foot. Villa switched off from a short corner, the ball laid into Oleksandr Zinchenko’s path and that left foot rattled a shot inside Martinez’s left-hand post.
Martin Odegaard missed a sitter after Eddie Nketiah rounded Villa’s keeper but he spooned his chance over the bar. At the other
end, Leon Bailey ran from the halfway line and unleashed a powerful shot that Aaron Ramsdale did well to push on to the crossbar.
It was breathless stuff and continued as such into the final frantic minutes of injury time.
Villa boss Unai Emery (right) was unhappy, and said: “I’m disappointed, and frustrated – it is quite embarrassing to lose two matches four-two at home in front of our supporters.
“Eight goals at home in two games is not normal.
“Our performances cannot continue like that for sure.”