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Two goals in extra time helped Arsenal to a difficult win over Aston Villa
Arsenal were behind twice against Aston Villa but did well to rally back on both occasions and eventually romped to a 4-2 win thanks to goals in extra time from Emiliano Martinez and Gabriel Martinelli.
Former Arsenal man Emiliano Martinez was one of the eventual heroes for the Gunners, as his late own goal handed the Gunners all three points in a 4-2 win over Aston Villa.
Arsenal will be overjoyed by Martinez’ contribution that sees them finally win a Premier League game after three matches without a win, but his current side will be less than pleased with his generous contribution that cost them a game that they could have gotten more from.
How it happened
Arsenal came into a Premier League game second on the league table for the first time in 2023 after being overtaken by Manchester City during the week and it showed in the early exchanges as they conceded after only six minutes to a brilliant counter-attacking goal finished off by Ollie Watkins’ powerful drive into the bottom corner.
They were not behind for long however, as Bukayo Saka scored his 9th Premier League goal with a volley from the edge of the area to draw Arsenal level.
In recent games Arsenal had been guilty of missing chances but in the first half against Aston Villa, they were guilty of not creating enough and despite Saka’s goal they struggled to find a way through the Aston Villa defence, hitting a total of two shots throughout the first half.
Arsenal looked to find solutions to Aston Villa’s deep block, but instead suffered another hammer blow as Phillippe Coutinho restored Aston Villa’s lead, putting even further pressure on the Gunners to find a goal.
Aston Villa entered into the break with a 2-1 lead and hoped they would be able to defend it for the second 45 minutes but Arsenal had other plans.
After 15 minutes of the restart, Arsenal equalised for the second time on the night through a stinging effort from Oliksander Zinchenko.
Arsenal reverted to type once again by missing clear-cut chances to score. Eddie Nketiah the culprit this time, hitting the post with a header and fluffing his lines after being played through on goal by Martin Odegaard.
It started to look like Arsenal would drop points again, but after 93 minutes Arsenal’s marquee signing of the January transfer window, Jorginho, came to their rescue as his long range drive cannoned off the crossbar and went into the goal off Emiliano Martinez’ back to give Arsenal the lead at the death.
Arsenal made sure of all three points as substitutes Martinelli and Fabio Viera combined to make it 4-2 to the Gunners deep into stoppage time.
Arsenal back on top of the EPL
The 4-2 win means Arsenal climb above Manchester City to sit at the top of the Premier League table at least for now.
Manchester City take on Nottingham Forest later today and could regain top spot with three points, but Arsenal will happy to have their first win in February after dropping points in their last three Premier League games in a row.
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