Aston Villa 2-4 Arsenal: Mikel Arteta's side revive their title bid with two goals in added time, including an Emi Martinez own goal, to win a Premier League classic at Villa Park.

 

2-4 Aston Villa Arsenal: Mikel Arteta's side revive their title bid with two goals in added time, including an Emi Martinez own goal, to win a Premier League classic at Villa Park.

Before Arsenal's comeback, Aston Villa took the lead twice through Ollie Watkins and Philippe Coutinho.

Arsenal came back with three second-half goals from Zinchenko, Martinez's own goal, and Martinelli.

Arsenal has now moved three points clear of Manchester City atop the Premier League table.

The dream was evaporating little by little. Arsenal had come back from two goals down at Villa Park, but Martin Odegaard had missed an open goal with 12 minutes remaining, and it appeared that two more crucial points in the title race would be lost. It was an afternoon to pause and stare in disbelief as Arsenal's challenge imploded. A football game became a rubberneckers' convention.

Everything changed after that. Jorginho smashed an unstoppable drive over Emiliano Martinez's dive three minutes into added time after the ball was laid across the face of the Aston Villa area. Arsenal fans' hearts sank as the ball cannoned down off the crossbar. However, as Martinez fell to the ground, the ball landed on the back of his head and rolled across the goal line.

The Arsenal fans in the section adjacent to the goal erupted. Arsenal had been set up to be the victims of the law-of-the-ex here, with their former manager Unai Emery now in charge at Villa.

Instead, they used the law to their advantage. Martinez was the keeper at the Emirates and has not won over Arsenal fans since his departure. The traveling supporters took special delight in his anguish.

Arsenal's comeback was far from over. Martinez went up to join an attack in the dying seconds of the game, and when Arsenal broke away, Gabriel Martinelli ran on to a through ball just inside the Villa half and was greeted with the sight of an open goal. He took a couple of touches and when he got to the edge of the area, he raised his arms in the air as if celebrating an early try.

Jorginho's deflected strike off Emiliano Martinez gave Arsenal a thrilling comeback victory over Aston Villa.

Gabriel Martinelli then scored a breakaway goal to give the Gunners a 4-2 victory and keep them atop the table.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta celebrated the comeback win as the Gunners recovered from a poor run of form.

It is not normally done in football, but such was the startling nature of the game's transformation that Arsenal had gone in the space of five minutes from a team watching its season crumble, a team on the verge of a fourth league match without a win, to a side that had regained all of its swagger. 'Our confidence is back, and with more belief than before,' Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said after the 4-2 victory.

The victory put them three points ahead of Manchester City, at least for a few hours. Perhaps this type of melodrama was exactly what they needed. It had been one of the best matches in the Premier League this season, a brilliant, relentless roller-coaster of a match. Perhaps summoning this triumph over adversity will inspire Arsenal to rejoin the battle with City. To win, they demonstrated resilience, character, and defiance. Maybe they'll believe now.

Tom Hanks, a Hollywood actor, sat in the stands in the directors' box. In the late 1980s, he starred in Big, a film about a boy who puts money in a fairground slot and grows into a man. After many adventures, the man returns to his childhood self, and for 90 minutes at Villa Park, it appeared as if Arsenal's chance to mix it with the grown-ups was drawing to a close. The ending was then rewritten by Arsenal.

Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins stunned Arsenal with a fine left-footed strike early in the game.

Bukayo Saka then equalized for Arsenal with a powerful strike that was thumped into the roof of the net.

Philippe Coutinho (left) finished off a stunning team move to put Villa back in front, 2-1.

MATCH FACTS, STATS AND PLAYER RATINGS

Aston Villa (4-4-1-1): Martinez 6 – Cash 7, Konsa 6, Mings 6, Alex Moreno 6 – McGinn 7, Douglas Luiz 6 (Bailey 67), Kamara 6, Buendia 6 (Dendoncker 67) – Coutinho 6 (Ramsey 62), Watkins 7 (Duran 78).

Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Ramsdale 8 – White 7 (Tomiyasu 78), Saliba 5, Gabriel 6, Zinchenko 8 – Jorginho 7, Xhaka 7 (Vieira 78) – Saka 9, Odegaard 6, Trossard 6 (Martinelli 68 7) – Nketiah 7.

Referee: Simon Hooper 7

After five minutes, Villa had taken the lead. Deep in Villa's half, Matty Cash stole the ball from Olesksandr Zinchenko and lofted a brilliant, controlled pass into the path of Ollie Watkins. He squared up to William Saliba, one of Arsenal's standout players this season, danced past him on the outside, and then rifled a low left-foot shot through Aaron Ramsdale's dive.

It was a nice finish, but it all felt a little too easy. Villa's first attack had exposed Arsenal's defense. Saliba had been left alone so early, and Watkins had passed him as if he didn't exist. Arsenal appeared dazed. Ramsdale dallied on the ball on his line a few minutes later and took so long to clear it that Watkins charged it down. The goalkeeper was relieved when the ball went wide.

Arsenal gradually reformed. Tyrone Mings made a brilliant save lunge to deflect a point-blank header from Eddie Nketiah onto the bar, and while it quickly became clear the effort would be ruled out for offside, it was a reminder of Mings' importance to the team. However, a mistake by the central defender allowed Arsenal to re-enter the game a few minutes later.

Mings intercepted a ball from Ben White near the goalline after it was clipped in from the right. Instead of following it around a corner, he nodded it back into the area where Bukayo Saka was waiting. Saka let the ball bounce before hitting it straight and true past Martinez into the net's roof.

Arsenal appeared to have found a rhythm, but Villa took the lead again after half an hour. Moreno dribbled down the left and snatched a ball inside White. Emiliano Buendia dummied the ball so beautifully that it rooted two Arsenal defenders to the ground. The ball was passed to Philippe Coutinho, who took a touch before sweeping the ball past Ramsdale.

After the break, Arsenal pushed for an equalizer. Saka, who had a scuffle with Coutinho before the break and had been singled out for rough treatment, was a threat, but it was another cross from White 10 minutes into the second half that almost set up an equalizer. Nketiah rose to meet it, but his header smacked off the crossbar.

Villa were too passive now, and an equalizer seemed inevitable. After an hour, Saka and Odegaard turned a short corner, and Odegaard rolled it to Zinchenko on the outskirts of the Villa area.

Left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko equalized with a superb shot into the bottom corner before Arsenal went into overdrive.

Arsenal refused to give up and eventually prevailed in a difficult test at Villa Park, picking up a huge victory.

Zinchenko had a lot of space and time to steady himself before unleashing an arrow of a left foot shot past Martinez's outstretched left hand. With 13 minutes remaining, Nketiah intercepted Ezri Konsa on the edge of the Villa box and slid a pinpoint pass to Odegaard, who was unmarked 10 yards out and faced with an open goal. Odegaard managed to drag his shot wide of the left post.

Arsenal couldn't believe they'd squandered such a golden opportunity, and a few minutes later, they almost had reason to be even more disappointed. Villa substitute Leon Bailey took a high ball from the sky and set off for goal, killing it beautifully on his instep. He outran his man, and his fierce drive was heading for the roof of the net until Ramsdale saved it with a brilliant reaction save.

Arsenal would not abandon the dream. Gabriel should have scored with a flick header from a corner, but Jorginho unleashed his thunderbolt, and Martinelli dashed through on the breakaway to latch on to Fabio Vieira's pass. And as he stood in the stands, Tom Hanks probably thought he could write a good script out of this.