Arsenal 4-1 Aston Villa, Premier League: Gunners Swat Aside Rivals With Second-half Masterclass

All the goals came in the second half as Arsenal crushed Premier League title rivals Aston Villa 4-1 to go five points clear at the top of the table.

Arsenal will go into 2026 with clear daylight at the summit following a statement victory at the Emirates Stadium, though Manchester City could cut their lead back to two points when they visit Sunderland on New Year's Day.

Villa showed enough in the first half to suggest they could achieve a club-record 12th straight win in all competitions, at the home of Unai Emery's former employers.

Ollie Watkins missed their best chance before half-time, sweeping wide following one of several incisive counter-attacks, though Viktor Gyokeres also went close with two headers at the other end. 

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Arsenal came out of the interval a team transformed, though, getting two quickfire goals within seven minutes of the restart.

The first came when Gabriel Magalhaes profited from some weak goalkeeping from former Gunner Emiliano Martinez to nod home in the 48th minute, while the second saw Martin Zubimendi finish with the outside of his boot after being found by Martin Odegaard.

More intense pressing from the front resulted in the third goal in the 69th minute, with Leandro Trossard's outstanding first-time finish surviving a VAR check for two possible offsides in the build-up.

Jesus got in on the act in the 78th minute, taking in Trossard's centre and curling home only 55 seconds after stepping off the bench before removing his shirt amid the jubilant celebrations.

Villa did at least get on the scoresheet as Watkins tapped home after Donyell Malen hit the post four minutes into stoppage time, after Watkins had himself headed against the same upright and John McGinn had produced a glaring miss.

Data Debrief: Villa brought crashing back to earth

Villa had won eight straight Premier League games ahead of Tuesday's trip to the Emirates, though Emery refused to entertain talk of a title challenge in the build-up.

And they were brought crashing back to earth, with this only the fourth instance of a team seeing a winning run of eight or more Premier League games ended by a defeat by at least three goals.

The previous occasion came in 2020, when Liverpool saw an 18-match winning streak ended by a 3-0 defeat at Watford.

Arsenal will now end a calendar year top of the Premier League for a seventh time, the joint-most of any club alongside Liverpool and Manchester United. 

This was the biggest margin of victory in a Premier League match between two sides starting the day in the top three since Manchester City beat the Gunners themselves 4-1 in April 2023.

Mikel Arteta's side won the expected goals (xG) battle by 3.17 to 2.67, though Villa's figure was massively enhanced by a slew of stoppage-time chances at 4-0 down.