Arsenal beat Aston Villa

Round 24 started with a spectacular goal party and dramatic score chase at Villa Park. Arsenal was exhausted in the first half and was 1-2, but the explosion in the second half and especially the last minutes of the game helped the visitors leave with three points. Mikel Arteta's army ended a series of four draws and losses, to reclaim the top of the table from Man City after this match.

"That's the Premier League," Jorginho laughed and said after the game. "That's why this tournament is the most exciting on the planet. We talked at halftime about playing simple football. In the end, the whole team turned the situation around."

The decisive moment of the match came in the third minute of the second half, when the two teams drew 2-2. Rookie Jorginho received the ball from a distance of more than 25 meters, then shot from a distance to send the ball to the crossbar, hit the ground and bounced off goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and flew back into the net of Aston Villa. The situation was counted as an own goal by Martinez - former Arsenal goalkeeper. Outside the field, the players and the coaching staff of the away team jumped up and hugged each other to celebrate the table.

Just three minutes earlier, coach Mikel Arteta was nervous and impatient when referee Simon Hooper did not allow Arsenal to take a quick free kick. The 41-year-old coach parodied and imitated the referee's actions and appeared angry. He has reason to complain when Arsenal have repeatedly dropped points because of referee mistakes this season. Before Martinez's own goal, Arsenal had many difficulties at Villa Park.

Before the match, Arteta praised his colleague Unai Emery for having many lessons for Aston Villa, even though the host had just lost two matches in a row. The Arsenal manager also suggested learning the game well in the first 20 minutes, both in attack and defense. Arteta's warning was not superfluous, when striker Ollie Watkins opened the scoring in the sixth minute. Defender Matty Cash stole the ball from Oleksandr Zinchenko's feet, then passed Watkins to a one-on-one dive with center back William Saliba. The home striker put the ball to the left foot and then hit the corner to knock down goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.

According to pre-match statistics, no team has scored more goals than Aston Villa in the first 15 minutes of matches in the Premier League this season. And no team has scored more goals than Arsenal in the first 30 minutes of the tournament. This happened again in the match, when Arsenal equalized in the 16th minute. Center-back Tyrone Mings broke the ball poorly, helping Bukayo Saka volley stretch in the penalty area to hit the roof of Aston Villa.

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Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Moreno (Digne 78), McGinn, Luiz (Dendoncker 67), Kamara, Coutinho (Ramsey 62), Buendia (Bailey 67), Watkins (Duran 78).

Arsenal: Ramsdale, Zinchenko (Tierney 93), Saliba, Gabriel, White (Tomiyasu 79), Xhaka (Vieira 79), Jorginho, Odegaard (Holding 93), Saka, Trossard (Martinelli 68), Nketiah.