Aston Villa 2-4 ArsenalClark 52, 70 Arshavin 39 Nasri 45 Chamakh 56 Wilshere 90 + 3 Arsenal were briefly top of the EPL after this convincing win over a poor Aston Villa. They dominated the first half and deserved their 2-0 half-time lead. Villa’s first goal early in the second half threatened comeback like Tottenham’s at Arsenal seven days previously, but the Gunners were soon 3-1 ahead. And they weathered brief late Villa pressure before wrapping up a fine win in stoppage-time. Arsenal took the lead on 39 minutes when Andrei Arshavin cut inside his marker on the edge of the box and drove a right-foot shot past Villa keeper Brad Friedel’s left hand. Friedel saved superbly from Chamakh’s header a minute before half-time but Samr Nasri’s deflected shot from the resultant corner doubled Arsenal’s advantage. Ciaran Clark gave Villa hope on 52 minutes with a left-foot 20yard drive past Arsenal keeper Lukasz Fabianski, who was unsighted by offside Villa striker John Carew. Four minutes later, though, Chamakh neatly slipped a shot under Friedel’s body from Tomas Rosicky’s sliderule pass. Clark’s close-range header on 70 minutes set up an interesting finale. But Villa couldn’t create anything from their late possession. And Arsenal sealed victory with Jack Wilshere’s close-range diving-header from Chamakh’s cross late in stoppage time.
Tags: Arsenal, poor Aston Villa, Andrei Arshavin, Ciaran Clark, John Carew Posted: |