Arsenal will enter 2026 with a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League as they continue their quest for the club’s very own holy grail, and judging by this game of two halves against putative title rivals they may need it.
A scrappy, angst-ridden opening 45 minutes was followed by a performance of complete dominance kickstarted by two goals in the space of five minutes from Gabriel Magalhães and Martín Zubimendi at the start of the second half. Leandro Trossard added a third with 20 minutes left before the substitute Gabriel Jesus rubbed salt in Aston Villa’s wounds to compound their first defeat in 12 matches and leave them six points adrift of the leaders in third.
Arsenal had fought their way to five unconvincing wins since losing the reverse fixture to the last kick of the game at Villa Park 25 days ago so needed a statement victory, and delivered emphatically.
Mikel Arteta’s side had missed the injured Declan Rice badly during the first half, and without some poor finishing from Ollie Watkins would have fallen behind, but capitalised on an injury sustained by Villa’s midfield talisman Amadou Onana to run riot in the second half.
While Arteta was able to select Gabriel from the start after the centre-back returned from a 10-match layoff from the bench against Brighton last weekend and Jurriën Timber was also back, he remained without the left-back Riccardo Calafiori, who was joined on the sidelines by Declan Rice.
