Bailey and Watkins put title race back in City's hands as Villa beat Arsenal

Arsenal's Jorginho applauds the fans at the end of the Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal 0 Aston Villa 2 

Advantage Manchester City. Pep Guardiola’s defending champions are two points clear at the top of the table after Arsenal followed title rivals Liverpool’s loss by crumbling under the pressure of having to win to keep control at the top.

They now go to Bayern Munich for Wednesday’s Champions League second leg knowing their second defeat of 2024 could signal an end to their trophy hopes.

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery masterminded a second victory of the season against the club that sacked him after only 18 months and this time it really hurt.

Arsenal were set to return to the top of the Premier League table after Liverpool’s surprise defeat earlier in the day, with reigning champions City hoping for a second miracle in the space of a few hours.

Surely Arsenal would not blow it with the sort of shock home form that wrecked their title chances last season, but they did and in spectacular fashion.

Emery’s inspired introduction of substitute Leon Bailey resulted in an 84th minute goal that rocked Arsenal so badly they conceded a second to Ollie Watkins three minutes later.

Watkins grew up an Arsenal fan, but nobody seemed to enjoy it more than former former local hero Emi Martinez, the Villa keeper.

He celebrated long and hard with the delirious Villa faithful after the match as they took on board moving three clear of Tottenham in the race for a top four finish.

The Argentine was at the heart of this result from the moment he denied Kai Havertz an early goal with a smart near post save which punctuated an opening ten minutes entirely dominated by Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.

That chance came from the left, but Arsenal mainly attacked down the right with the tried and trusted triangle of Ben White, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka relentlessly threatening to prise an opening goal.

With Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus restored to the starting line-up, following substitute roles in the midweek Champions League draw with Bayern Munich, Arteta added to his attacking options with sometimes as many as five players taking up advanced positions.

Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey celebrate.

Pantomime villain Martinez orchestrated attempts to slow the flow and they added some cute time-wasting tactics to their lowest of low blocks. It seemed to rile the increasingly anxious Arsenal supporters more than Arteta’s players, who stuck to their task.

Villa had a threat on the break, though, and Watkins struck against a post in a rare break forward. And there was no time to take stock before Martinez made a breath-taking world-class save with his feet from a close range Trossard shot.

That was one of the 14 first half shots Arsenal recorded against their former team-mate. The World Cup winner was booed throughout while also reminding all here that he as good as it gets at both the dark arts and keeping the ball out of the net.

Villa grew in confidence with every passing minute that Arsenal failed to score. To watch two teams who had scored 192 times between them this season playing out a goalless draw was almost perverse.

And if a stadium had a heart, the Emirates skipped a huge beat with half an hour to go when sloppy Zinchenko conceded possession to Youri Tielemans on the edge of the area and the Belgium midfielder rattled both cross bar and post with a cracking right foot strike.

Villa and their supporters were in the ascendancy and Arteta made his move to regain the upper hand with a double substitution after 66 minutes. That did not work so he sent on Emile Smith Rowe and Jorginho with ten minutes on the clock The desperate move of a desperate man, or a bit of late match inspiration?

In a word – ‘no.’ Some rare sloppy defending allowed Bailey the chance to finish unmarked at the far post and then Watkins dinked a neat finish over David Raya to finish a break as Arsenal chased the match.

Things could change with six matches to go, but this felt like a defining afternoon of football at a time when City are hitting top form just when they need to.

ARSENAL: Raya 6, White 6 (Tomiyasu 67), Saliba 6, Gabriel 6, Zinchenko 6 (Nketiah 87), Odegaard 7 (Jorginho 80), Trossard 7 (Martinelli 67), Rice 7, Saka 7, Havertz 7, Jesus 6 (Smith Rowe 80). 

Unused Subs: Ramsdale, Partey, Kiwior, Vieira. 

ASTON VILLA: Martinez 8, Konsa 6, Carlos 7, Torres 7, Digne 6, Zaniolo 6 (Moreno 80), Tielemans 6, Diaby 6 (Bailey 60), Rogers 6, McGinn 6, Watkins 7. 

Unused Subs: Olsen, Cash, Moreno, Chambers, Lenglet, Duran, Kesler-Hayden, Iroegbunam. 

Referee: David Coote 7 Att: 60,350.