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| Mikel Arteta, Manager of Arsenal speaks with Gabriel Martinelli of Arsenal during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Aston Villa at Emirates Stadium on August 31, 2022 in London, England. |
Arsenal edged to a fifth successive Premier League
victory of the season as Gabriel Martinelli hit the winner against Aston Villa
on a night of questionable goalkeeping at the Emirates Stadium.
A deserved 2-1 win meant the Gunners remained top of the
table with a perfect record, with Martinelli settling the game after Douglas Luiz
had levelled direct from a corner.
Ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez had earlier gifted
Gabriel Jesus the opener as Steven Gerrard’s side slipped to a fourth defeat,
heaping the pressure on the former England captain.
“We are delighted
with the performance and the result as well,” Martinelli told BT.
“That is the spirit we need to keep for the whole season. We need to keep
patient and we deserved the win and got the three points.“We always try to score and we conceded from a set-piece. We
were a bit upset but we scored again and that it the mentality we need to
have.”
For the second home game in a row, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal
showed their guile to seal the three points after they had come from behind to
beat Fulham four days earlier.
It was all the home side in the first half, with Bukayo Saka
wanting a penalty early on after seemingly being dragged to the ground by the
returning Tyrone Mings.
A VAR check sided with referee Robert Jones and no spot-kick
was awarded, much to the chagrin of Saka.
Jesus was played in over the top by a smart Martin Odegaard
pass but his low effort was turned behind by Martinez.
It was pinball in the penalty box from the resulting corner
with Villa unable to clear their lines and the ball eventually dropping to
Gabriel Magalhaes, whose shot was deflected behind.
Mings was the last line of defence to block an Odegaard
strike but Villa had ridden their luck one too many times.
Martinez failed to deal with a simple cross-cum-shot from
Granit Xhaka, pushing the ball straight into the path of Jesus, who made no
mistake.
The Argentina international was clearly rocked by the
mistake and soon put the ball out for a corner when trying to take it around
Saka.
The visitors somehow survived another goalmouth scramble
before Martinez showed just how good he can be, tipping behind a Martinelli
effort while at full stretch.
He was in the thick of the action as the second half got
under way, saving well from an Odegaard free-kick before tussling with Jesus.
As Arsenal toiled for the second goal, Gerrard turned to his
bench and introduced Philippe Coutinho and Luiz.
The latter was instantly involved as he whipped in a corner
that flew directly in for the equaliser, Aaron Ramsdale this time the keeper at
fault as his cries for a foul were turned away by a VAR check.
It turned out to be just the wake-up call Arsenal needed to
move through the gears and they regained the lead just three minutes later.
Martinelli passed into substitute Takehiro Tomiyasu, who
laid the ball off for Saka to cross to the back post where Martinelli had
drifted in unmarked to score, Martinez again suspect in the Villa goal.
The hosts saw out the remainder of the contest with relative
ease to extend their winning run – with Real Madrid, with three victories out
of three in LaLiga, the only other side to boast a perfect start from the top
five leagues in Europe.
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