Ollie Watkins’ goal after just 73 seconds secured a hard-fought victory for Aston Villa against Arsenal on Saturday afternoon.
The striker handed the hosts the perfect start, turning home his tenth Premier League goal of the season.
Arsenal came on strong in the second half but were thwarted by some neat stops from Emiliano Martinez and a resilient Villa backline.
Watkins had the home side’s best chances to extend the lead as they counter-attacked with menace, but his early strike proved to be enough to down the Gunners.
Looking for a response after a below par performance against West Ham in midweek, Villa made the perfect start and were ahead in the second minute.
Bertrand Traore pounced on a defensive mix-up and fed Watkins, whose shot ricocheted off Rob Holding and into the far corner.
Arsenal were struggling to create chances from open play, but they finally threatened the Villa goal after 29 minutes when Granit Xhaka’s free-kick was clawed out of the top corner by Martinez.
The Villans were quickly back on the front foot, however, and Traore came close to netting a second when he superbly turned away from two defenders in the box and unsuccessfully tried to lob Mat Ryan.
Mikel Arteta and his players were up in arms when Bukayo Saka pushed the ball past last man Ezri Konsa and was brought down, but the defender, who appeared to win the ball after a grapple, was given a yellow card.
Villa looked determined to build on their lead at the start of the second half, with Ross Barkley and Watkins, twice, testing Ryan within five minutes of the restart.
But after failing to add to their lead the home side nearly conceded when Nicolas Pepe side-footed an effort narrowly wide when well-placed in the area.
Former Gunner Martinez was desperate to keep his second clean sheet of the campaign against his old team, and he got his fingertips on Pepe’s dangerous cross to stop Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from equalising.
Arsenal were piling on the pressure, probing both flanks and putting a number of balls into the box, but the Villa defence were repelling them with block after block in the spirit of the recent away win against Southampton.
Jack Grealish and Watkins were linking up effectively when Villa broke forward, with the latter sliding a shot just past the far post with eight minutes left.
And Villa held out in the face of some late pressure to ensure they took all three points.
Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett, Nakamba, McGinn, Traoré (Trezeguet 66'), Barkley (Ramsey 77'), Grealish, Watkins.
Unused subs: Heaton, Engels, Elmohamady, Luiz, Sanson, El Ghazi, Davis.
