Gunners end 2025 with major statement of intent

Martin Zubimendi celebrates after scoring Arsenal's second goal during the Premier League match against Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium. Picture: Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images

Premier League: Arsenal 4 Aston Villa 1

This was the statement win Arsenal have been waiting every waking hour for after they lost at Villa at the start of the month. They have played well without winning convincingly in every match since. Now they can start the new year on top of the Premier League table with the ghost of the Midlands men and former Arsenal manager Unai Emery laid to rest for another season and the second half to the season to find true championship form.

Emery had lost only two of his eight matches against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal since he was sacked around Christmas 2019. It was clear in the build-up to this match Arteta and his men had had enough and although they only really sparked into life when they scored two goal at the start of the second half, there was always a sense of ‘thou shalt not pass’ about their approach to this late night, wintry clash.

Villa had won their previous 11 matches in all competitions and could have gone level at the top with a 12th victory. They had their moments and their chances, notably to striker Ollie Watkins, but they failed to record a shot on target by half-time.

Arsenal, though a bit too easy for comfort to break through in a midfield lacking the injured Declan Rice, had William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes fit again and reunited in defence for the first time in nearly eight weeks.

And it was Brazil defender who shaped the course of the match when he outwitted Villa’s Argentina keeper Emi Martinez, the former Arsenal No.1, to head in Bukayo Saka’s 48th minute corner.

Off came the shackles, the handbrake, the anchor, and anything else inhibiting Arsenal as they found their purpose on the pitch and their voice in the stands to seize the moment and punish a wobbling Villa side with a second goal just four minutes later.

Man of the match captain Martin Odegaard dispossessed Jadon Sancho and played in Martin Zubimendi with an inch-perfect through ball that the Spanish midfielder took in his stride to stab into the net with a first-time finish.

Villa tried to rally but looked spent against an Arsenal side now smelling blood and the sort of victory they so badly wanted and needed.

Leandro Trossard netted the third with a brilliant curling effort from the edge of the area, marred only by a ridiculously long VAR decision looking for an offside that simply was not there.

Gabriel Jesus came off the bench to score his first goal in nearly a year following an 11-month spell out with a ligament injury.

There were still the best part of 15 minutes to go as Emery sought damage limitation with his substitutions and Arteta tried to satisfy a crowd shouting for a fifth goal and his players’ legs with a trip to Bournemouth on Saturday night to prepare for.

Talk about a game of two halves!

Villa arguably had the best of the first period in which Viktor Gyokeres missed the target with two half-decent chances in the air and Arsenal looked vulnerable to counter attacks.

Martinez took the opportunity at every dead ball to delay the restart for as long as possible without being booked for time-wasting. Team-mate Youri Tielemans also spent an age on the deck with a spurious injury, as Emery’s disruptive tactics were apparent from the off. They are not the first, nor will they be the last, to try to knock Arsenal out of their stride with such mischief.

It was all too much for referee Darren England, who was successfully conned into making incorrect decisions. Effective? Maybe, but this Villa side are better than that as they showed on a couple of early breaks which nearly ended in goals for Amadou Onana and, in particular, Watkins. 

The England striker, a boyhood Arsenal fan and their nemesis as a man, was recalled to start and should have marked his 30th birthday with an early goal.

Having started well, Arsenal were second best for a spell to long for comfort as Villa silenced the home fans and their supporters ruled the roost too.

Usually so strong attacking down the right, Arsenal were better on the left against stand-in Villa right back Lamare Bogarde. Trossard constantly got the better of him.

With Jesus alongside German striker Kai Havertz fit and on the bench for the first time this season, Arteta had options. Add Noni Madueke, Ebere Eze, and Gabriel Martinelli also itching to get on, and he had half a team of attacking internationals ready to change the match if needed. The Arsenal manager stuck to his guns, though, and ultimately did not need to bring on reinforcements until the match was as good as won by his starting line-up.

Only the halfway mark of the season and Arsenal and Arteta have been here before, but this match felt like it meant more. An injury-time double save by David Raya from John McGinn summed up Arsenal’s spirit and determination on the night and this season. And even when Watkins nudged in a 94th minute strike for Villa, he did not look like celebrating the goal or his birthday.

Arsenal: Raya 8, Timber 7, Saliba 7, Gabriel 8 (Lewis-Skelly 77), Hincapie 6, Zubimendi 6, Merino 7 (Norgaard 73), Odegaard 9, Trossard 8, Saka 6 (Madueke 83), Gyokeres 6 (Jesus 77). Subs: Arrizabalaga, Havertz, Eze, Martinelli, White 

Aston Villa: Martinez 5, Konsa 6, Lindelof 6, Digne 6, Bogarde 5, Onana 8 (McGinn 46), Tielemans 6 (Hemmings 82), Rogers 6 (Jimoh-Aloba 82), Sancho 5 (Malen 61), Buendia 7 (Garcia 61), Watkins 6. Subs: Bizot, Wright,Maatsen, Hemmings, Routh.

Ref: Darren England 4