We fell to just our second league defeat of the campaign and slipped off the top of the Premier League thanks to John McGinn’s sixth-minute strike at Villa Park.
The Villa captain’s early goal proved to the game’s key moment, but would also be Unai Emery’s team’s only real sight of goal during the encounter, and despite us creating plenty of opportunities to equalise, we couldn’t find one.
Mikel Arteta watched on from the stands, but the endeavour of his team wasn’t rewarded and our luck was summed up when Kai Havertz scrambled the ball into the net late on but it was ruled out for a handball.
Villa get in front
Just as we had the season before in the same fixture, we fell behind early on. Seconds after Bukayo Saka was a stud’s length away from potentially converting a Gabriel Martinelli far-post cross, Leon Bailey scampered down the right flank into our box, managed to squeeze the ball back to McGinn and the hosts’ skipper netted a shot on the turn.
That setback seemed to affect us as we struggled to impose ourselves on our opponents during the opening quarter, with a series of sloppy passes reducing our effectiveness in the final third especially.
But gradually, we warmed up amidst the chilly conditions and Saka was first to test former Gunner Emiliano Martinez when he curled towards goal, and then Martin Odegaard rippled the side-netting from the edge of the area.
We were working through the gears and Martinelli was finding plenty of joy down the left flank and he managed to lob the ball over Martinez after escaping the Villa offside trap but his effort lacked the necessary power and Diego Carlos mopped up the danger.
Odegaard then looked set to score when a neat move involving Martinelli, Havertz and Jesus led to a chance for the Norwegian who took his time to pick his spot but couldn’t beat Martinez when he tried to find the bottom corner, which proved to be our best chance of a half that would ultimately end with us behind.
Two goals disallowed
After the restart, it was a case of one-way traffic for the opening 15 minutes as we heaped pressure on the home defence. Ollie Watkins was fortunate not to score an own goal when Martinez parried a corner onto his striker and the ball came back off the post, and a golden chance went begging when Havertz squared for Odegaard but our captain uncharacteristically shanked it well wide with the goal gaping.
We finally put the ball in it just after the hour mark when a nice Declan Rice pass released Saka who rounded the Villa keeper to tap in but he was correctly flagged marginally offside, but as the game progressed we saw our momentum fade as it looked like the hosts would hang on.
But then as the clock ticked towards 90, we thought we’d found an equaliser when a scramble on the goalline saw Havertz and Matty Cash try to control it, and it dropped for our man to prod home with Eddie Nketiah also set to pounce.
However, Jarred Gillett ruled it out and VAR looked into it, and deemed that the German midfielder had handled the ball before he poked it over the line, allowing Villa to celebrate achieving a club-record 15th straight home win, and end our six-game winning run in the process.
Facts and stats
Aston Villa have won their last 15 Premier League home games, only the fifth such run by any side in the competition’s history.
Villa have become the fourth team to play the previous season’s top two in consecutive Premier League matches and win them both, after Liverpool in December 2000, Southampton in May 2001 and Manchester United in December 2002.
We have failed to score in two of their eight Premier League away games this season (also 0-1 v Newcastle), as many as in their 19 on the road in the competition last term.
Unai Emery has won 26 of his 41 Premier League games in charge of Aston Villa (D6 L9), more than he managed in 51 games in charge of Arsenal in the competition (W25 D13 L13).
John McGinn has scored four goals in the Premier League this season, his best return in a single campaign in the competition.
Leon Bailey has scored or assisted in each of his last seven Premier League home games (4 goals, 4 assists), despite only starting three of those matches.
What's next
Attention turns to the Champions League as we head to Eindhoven to round off the group stage with a meeting with PSV on Tuesday, before we're back in Premier League action on Sunday, December 17 when we host Brighton & Hove Albion at Emirates Stadium.
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