Arsenal surrendered a two-goal lead at home to Aston Villa, which saw leaders Liverpool keep their gap of six points at the top. Goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz put the Gunners in control, but Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins struck in the second half to deny Mikel Arteta’s side the victory.
Earlier in the day, Liverpool looked set to drop points as well, but Darwin Nunez came to the rescue with a stunning brace in added time to join Nottingham Forest and Arsenal as teams to beat Brentford in the league on their own patch.
Later in the day at Emirates Stadium, Arsenal flew out of the blocks in the opening 45 minutes with Emi Martinez forced into two strong saves from Leandro Trossard and Martinelli. The latter eventually broke the deadlock 10 minutes before half-time when latching onto a deep cross from Trossard.
Pressure from the hosts continued in the second half, and the Belgian international was again the provider, with Havertz this time side-footing home his excellent left-footed cross. Just as Arsenal looked to be easing to victory, a Youri Tielemans header saw Villa pull one back on the hour mark.
Just eight minutes later, Unai Emery’s side were back on level terms with Ollie Watkins converting a Matty Cash cross at the back post. Kai Havertz thought he had bagged the winner, but VAR deemed he handled Mikel Merino’s shot past Martinez, and therefore the goal was disallowed.
