Arsenal roar back to gun down Villa in Premier League clash

Two stoppage-time goals helped Arsenal earn a thrilling 4-2 victory over Aston Villa on Saturday as Mikel Arteta’s side got back on track in the race for the Premier League title.

Villa striker Ollie Watkins opened the scoring with a powerful, low finish inside five minutes. Arsenal hit back shortly after through a bullet strike from winger Bukayo Saka, but Villa retook the lead later in the first-half with a superb team move finished off midfielder Philippe Coutinho.

Mikel Arteta’s side pushed for an equaliser and found one near the hour mark when Oleksandr Zinchenko fired a low strike into the bottom right corner from the edge of the area.

Arsenal faced suffering a fourth consecutive Premier League game without win but took the lead in stoppage time as January signing Jorginho’s shot from the edge of the box struck the crossbar and hit goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez on the back of the head and found the net.

Gabriel Martinelli added a fourth almost immediately after when Martinez went up to Arsenal’s box to attack a last-minute corner, leaving the Arsenal striker to counter-attack and tap into an empty net.

The north London side began the day second after losing Wednesday’s crucial match to Manchester City, who face a trip to newly-promoted Nottingham Forest later on Saturday.

ESPN