Key events
70 min: Watkins, a childhood Arsenal fan, was about to be replaced by Jhon Duran when he scored that goal but he has now forced his manager into a rethink. Duran has his tracksuit top back on and has now retaken his seat on the bench.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-2 Aston Villa (Watkins 68)
Villa level the scores! Arsenal failed to clear that free-kick convincingly and Watkins beats Raya with a sweet sidefoot volley at the far post after connecting with a cross from Matty Cash that one of Kai Havertz or Thomas Partey should have cleared.
67 min: Leandro Trossard is booked for a robust and unecessary challenge on Ollie Watkins out by the touchline. Villa sent the ball into the penalty area, where Merino heads clear.
66 min: Arsenal win another corner. Odegaard sends the ball into the Villa box, where Morgan Rogers heads clear.
66 min: The ball dropping over his shoulder, Martinelli sends a half-decent volley fizzing over the Villa bar.
63 min: Villa are right back in this game after looking down and out as recently as three minutes ago. Unai Emery is booked for kicking the ball away when it looked like he was just returning it from his technical area to quite near the scene of a restart. It’s not just Arsenal players who are victimised by these over-fussy referees – their former managers are victims of The Conspiracy as well, it seems.
61 min: I say a diving header but truth be told it was more of a stooping one. And what’s this?!?!?! Tielemans goes this close to scoring his second after pouncing on a poor clearance from Lewis-Skelly but strikes the post with his low drive. He should have scored!
GOAL! Arsenal 2-1 Aston Villa (Tielemans 60)
Villa pull a goal back. Lucas Digne sends a wonderful cross into the Arsenal box, where Youri Tielemans pulls away from Merino to send a diving header past David Raya from six yards out. That’s his first Premier League goal of the season.
58 min: Villa win a corner from which Arsenal break upfield. They attack down the right side of the pitch but Ollie Watkins is able to get back and regain possession for the visitors.
57 min: Villa win a free-kick wide on the left, a long way from the Arsenal goal. The delivery is poor and it’s cleared by Kai Havertz, the first defender.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Aston Villa (Havertz 55)
Arsenal double their lead. Trossard takes on Cash down the left and sends another good cross into the Villa box. Havertz makes good contact and from five yards out volleys the ball past Martinez, who again got plenty on the ball but was unable to keep it out.
53 min: Arsenal continue to control possession, building patiently from the back. At which point Gabriel runs out of patience and sends a long, hopelessly overhit diagonal pass in the general direction of Leandro Trossard. The ball sails out of play.
51 min: On this occasion, Odegaard’s inswinger is met by Merino at the far post but Villa are able to scramble the ball clear when he fails to steer his header on goal.
49 min: Trossard picks out Myles Lewis-Skelly with a wonderful pass inside Cash. The young full-back drills the ball across the face of the Villa goal but there’s nobody on hand in an Arsenal shirt to tap home. Villa clear for a corner and Rice’s delivery is headed out of Martinez’s hands by Tyrone Mings for another corner.
47 min: Arsenal free-kick, wide on the left. Odegaard swings the ball across the face of goal, trying to pick out the run of Kai Havertz. Watkins does enough to put the Arsenal striker off.
47 min: Boubacar Kamara hooks a clearance downfield from inside his own box as Arsenal pick up where they left off, putting Villa firmly under the cosh.
Second half: Arsenal 1-0 Aston Villa
46 min: Play resumes with Aston Villa left-back Lucas Digne on for Ian Maatsen who had a torrid first half trying to contain Gabriel Martinelli and was badly at fault for Arsenal’s goal.
Villa have used two of their five substitutes already and it’s probably fair to say both changes have come earlier than planned – if indeed he was even planning on making either – by their manager.
You’ll remember that Amadou Onana was forced off with a muscle strain in the first half and replaced by Lemare Bogarde, who is not as good as the man he replaced but has at least shown considerably more enthusiasm than his uncle Winston did during his ill-fated but highly lucrative spell at Chelsea.
An email: “I can’t help but wonder if Aston Villa aren’t primed for a stumble like the winless November they endured,” writes Eric Peterson. “The 5-1-3 league run they’re on has an ‘emperor has no clothes’ vibe to it, with wins over Southampton, Leicester and Everton in that stretch. That plus the exertions of two Champion League games might make getting through the next fortnight a bit of a chore.”
An email: “With noted chance-fluffers Darwin Núñez and Adana Traoré both scoring today, surely this augurs well for Kai Havertz,” ponders Kari Tulinius.
Half-time: Arsenal 1-0 Aston Villa
Gabriel Martinelli’s strike separates the sides at the break, with Arsenal well worth their lead despite having to be constantly mindful of the threat posed by Villa in general and Ollie Watkins in partcular on the counter-attack.
45+2 min: Mings puts the ball out for a corner under pressure from Martinelli, when kicking it out for a throw-in looked the more sensible and easier option. Odegaard’s inswinger is cleared at the near post and that’s it for the first half.
45+1 min: We’re into time added on in the first half and Arsenal are worth their slender lead, having severely restricted Aston Villa’s attacking opportunities. David Raya has had to make one save for the hosts, who have otherwise dominated, albeit without creating too much in the way of scoring opportunities.
44 min: Morgan Rogers and Leandro Trossard have a contretemps which results in the Villa midfielder getting a ticking-off from referee Chris Kavanagh. I think Rogers shaped to butt the Arsenal winger but didn’t actually make any contact with him.
41 min: That Merino shot was one you’d expect the likes of Bukayo Saka, Mo Salah or Andros Townsend to score in their sleep, but the Spanish midfielder didn’t demonstrate quite the same finesse as the aforementioned trio.
40 min: Merino curls a decent shooting opportunity wide after receiving a neat pass from Partey following good work down the right from Leandro Trossard.
38 min: A Partey pass is prodded into the path of Trossard by Maatsen but the Arsenal forward balloons the ball over the bar before sinking his face into his hands.
37 min: Aston Villa substitution: Amadou Onana is forced off with what looks like a hamstring injury and is replaced by Lamare Bogarde.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Aston Villa (Martinelli 35)
Arsenal lead! Gabriel Martinelli lunges in front of a dozing Maatsen to prod home a Leandro Trossard cross from the left. Martinez got a big hand on the ball and thought he’d kept it out but the referee points to the gizmo on his wrist to inform him and everyone else at the Emirates that the ball had crossed the line.
32 min: A terrible throw-in from Thomas Partey allows Ollie Watkins to try and lob the bouncing ball over David Raya from distance. His effort goes over the bar.
31 min: Myles Lewis-Skelly wins the ball from Morgan Rogers and Arsenal work it through to Havertz. He’s flagged for offside but only after failing to hit the target.
30 min: Mikel Arteta is booked for ranting at the fourth official over a throw-in he felt should have been awarded to Arsenal but wasn’t. Pick your battles, Mikel.
29 min: We approach the half-hour mark of an encounter that has been absorbing but not massively entertaining. Following Liverpool’s win over Brentford earlier, a Villa goal would really put the cat amongst the pigeons for us neutrals.
27 min: Kai Havertz sends a low, skidding effort from a few yards outside the Villa penalty area well wide of the right post.
26 min: A Martinelli cross from the byline fails to trouble Emi Martinez, who leaps unchallenged to pluck the ball from the air near his far post.
25 min: Mikel Merino goes to ground hurt after coming out second best from a coming-together with Matty Cash. He’ll live and is quickly back on his feet after a short breather.
24 min: Jurrien Timber does well to get back and intercept a through ball down the centre aimed at Ollie Watkins by Youri Tielemans.
23 min: A Havertz cross from the right is partially blocked by Jacob Ramsey, who is back to help out Ian Maatsen in defence. Villa clear their lines.
