Premier League: Aston Villa 2-1 Arsenal
As this game ticked into the 95th minute, an enthralling contest had already lived up to its billing. And then mayhem unfolded inside the Arsenal 18-yard box and, subsequently, in the Villa Park stands, the 128-year foundations put to the test as Emiliano Buendía, enveloped by the rubble of splayed defenders and with virtually the last kick of the game, exhibited unthinkable composure to curl a first-time shot into the corner and seemingly blow the Premier League title race wide open.
Not for the first time, Aston Villa had been the architects of Arsenal’s downfall, though few envisioned a climax quite like this. David Raya blocked Youri Tielemans’s side-foot effort from inside the six-yard box and then Buendía saw his initial effort halted by a combination of Martín Zubimendi and Jurriën Timber before seizing on the loose ball. Buendía slipped as he shifted possession to Boubacar Kamara and Arsenal smelled danger, Ben White and Timber flinging themselves towards the ball.
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A mini-ruck ensued before an off-balance Kamara raked the ball clean from the wreckage and towards Buendía, now back on his feet, to do the rest, his goal inflicting a first defeat on Arsenal since August.
Four Arsenal players, plus Raya, were either on all-fours or on the ground as Buendía charged towards the dugouts in celebration. Emiliano Martínez joined the throbbing Villa huddle on halfway, where the match-winner was mobbed by Pau Torres and Ollie Watkins, among those to surge on to the pitch wearing substitute jackets after being withdrawn in the game. Buendía beat his chest, Ian Maatsen jumped on to Ezri Konsa for a piggyback. For Villa, wild abandon, this a ninth win in 10 league matches and a 13th in 15 across all competitions. For Arsenal, despair, Zubimendi dragging his shirt over his face as he and his teammates trudged towards halfway.
Mikel Arteta had acknowledged the hazards that awaited his side here. Villa inflicted irrecoverable damage on his side in January, Unai Emery’s team rallying from two goals down to earn a point at the Emirates Stadium, a result that left Arsenal lagging behind Liverpool and with too much ground to make up in the title race.
Two seasons ago, Villa did the double over Arsenal, two late goals earning an away victory in the final weeks of the season that paved the way for Manchester City to pip Arteta’s side to the crown. It was, of course, Emery whom Arteta succeeded six years ago, tasked with the ultimate aim of reclaiming a title that has eluded them since 2003-04.
Surely Villa, who failed to win any of their first six matches this season, are now in that race? They sit third in the table following Manchester City’s 3-0 defeat of Sunderland later on Saturday. Judging by the way this place went berserk after Buendía hauled himself off the canvas to locate the top corner suggests so. “They are when you look where they are,” Arteta said. “They have beaten some big teams at home. They are where they are and we are there too.” Villa overcame City here at the end of October and since then their only hiccup was defeat at Anfield against Liverpool.
Villa seized a first-half lead through an increasingly reliable source: Matty Cash. Eight minutes after Declan Rice played firefighter, racing across the box to block Cash’s vicious goal-bound shot, the Villa right-back throttled another effort through the legs of Raya. Timber, who partnered Piero Hincapié at centre-back, inadvertently flicked Pau Torres’s cross towards Cash. Eberechi Eze winced as Cash whizzed past him to add to his tally of important goals this season. Eze registered just 13 first-half touches and was replaced at the interval. Every outfield Villa player followed Cash to the corner flag, where he performed his golf-swing celebration.
Arteta introduced Viktor Gyökeres and Leandro Trossard at the interval in place of Eze and Mikel Merino. Trossard made an immediate impact, whistling a 50th-minute volley narrowly wide of Martínez’s left post after arriving unmarked to meet Martin Ødegaard’s chipped cross. A couple of minutes later, Trossard sparked bedlam in the away end. Rice overpowered Amadou Onana on halfway and Ødegaard freed an overlapping Bukayo Saka. Saka’s ball across the box brushed Martínez’s right glove and Trossard was on hand to feast on the leftovers, lashing home inside the six-yard box.
Arsenal were in the ascendancy after levelling but Villa stirred after Martínez got fingertips to a dipping Ødegaard effort. The substitute Donyell Malen, also formerly of Arsenal, flashed a shot wide. But the finale was boxed off for Buendía to score with almost the last kick.
“We are disappointed about how we lost the game,” Arteta said. “First of all, congratulations to Villa because they are a very good side and they are very good at what they do. I thought we were going to win the game. We had two chances to score [again]. The result could have been different but the reality is that it is not. We were unbeaten in 18 games … now the table is close.”