Sunday started beautifully for Arsenal and coach Mikel Arteta. Liverpool surprisingly lost at home to Crystal Palace and dropped to the third place in the Premier League. Certainly a morale boost for the Gunners who needed a win against Aston Villa in order to remain first and increase the gap with the Reds by four points. Enter Unai Emery’s Aston Villa. Former Arsenal manager stunned the Emirates as the Villians scored two goals in three minutes to win 2-0, defeating them for the second time this season (1-0 at Villa Park). And all Gunners will ask themselves now: Is this a start of another Arsenal meltdown?This is a huge blow for Mikel Arteta’s men mainly psychologically, since they are behind Manchester City (again) at the table with six games to go, and they are facing Bayern in the Champions League on Tuesday. In all fairness, they weren’t the better team today and had only one really good, clear chance to score, but Villa also have FIFA World champion Dibu Martinez on their side. Emery’s men statistically had only two shots on target (both goals), but in reality they hit the woodwork three times before that and deserved a win after which they have a point more than Tottenham, with whom they are battling for the fourth place.Dibu Martinez made the first of it’s many saves today by stopping a shot from Havertz in the 11th minute. But the biggest chances in the first half came for both teams in a matter of one minute. Gabriel lost possession and Watkins came forward in the 39th minute, but his shot ended up in the post. Arsenal took the ball immediately and Trossard was quick to come into the goal area but Martinez made a mega-save from two meters. Second half was much better opened by Villa, and it’s really unfortunate that the Villains didn’t score in the 62nd minute. Tielemans’s stroke was a typical thunderbolt which the Belgian international often releases during matches, and Raya was beaten, but the ball hit bar and then bounced down to hit the post. Very, very rare situation, and a huge relief for the Gunners. But the worst was soon to follow. In the space of just three minutes, Villa scored two goals via Baily and Ollie Watkins and put the game away, causing the Gunners a huge headache in the last six games of the season. ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE – MATCHDAY 33Saturday Newcastle – Tottenham 4-0 (2-0)/Isak 30, 50, Gordon 32, Schar 87/Brentford – Sheffield Utd 2-0 (0-0)/Arblaster 64 og, Onyeka 90+3/Nott.Forest – Wolverhampton 2-2 (1-1)/Gibbs-White 45+2, Danilo 57 – Cunha 40, 62/Man.City – Luton 5-1 (1-0)/Hashioka 2 og, Kovacic 64, Haaland 76 pen, Doku 87, Gvardiol 90+3 – Barkley 81/Burnley – Brighton 1-1 (0-0)/Broenhill 75 – Muric 79 og/Bournemouth – Man.Utd. 2-2 (2-1)/Solanke 16, Kluivert 36 – Fernandes 31, 65 pen/Sunday West Ham – Fulham 0-2 (0-1)/Pereira 9, 72/Liverpool – Crystal Palace 0-1 (0-1)/Eze 14/Arsenal – Aston Villa 0-2 (0-0)/Bailey 84, Watkins 87/Monday 22:00: (1.70) Chelsea (3.70) Everton (5.10)***odds are subject to change***
