Arsenal bounced back following their defeat to Borussia Dortmund in midweek, beating Aston Villa 3-0 on Saturday afternoon.
A devastating 194 seconds from Arsenal gave them the three points against Aston Villa in the Midlands. Victory at Villa Park was just what was needed for Arsenal after their midweek disappointment and that is exactly what they achieved thanks to a Mesut Ozil inspired performance as they ran out 3-0 victors.
A virus had swept through the Villa camp before the game however there was only one absentee from the original line-up which was Ashley Westwood who was subsequently replaced by Carlos Sanchez who made his first Premier League start for Aston Villa.
The opening third of the game was very even with both sides having chances to open the scoring. Alan Hutton flashed a header wide from a Tom Cleverley corner before Aaron Ramsey sliced a shot wide on the edge of the area. Calum Chambers then picked up a booking for bringing down Gabriel Agbonlahor and this gave Cleverley the chance to set up Ciaran Clark who was denied from 5 yards by Wojech Sczensny who made a great save.
Villa were looking to carry on the great form that seen them beat Liverpool last week however it was Arsenal who took the lead thanks to a tidy finish from Mesut Ozil. A nice bit of play in the middle of the park seen Danny Welbeck slide Ozil in on goal and then the German slotted nicely around Brad Guzan. This was the first of 3 goals for the London side within 194 seconds.
The World Cup winner then repaid the favour to Arsenals new forward a minute later with an inch perfect cross which gave Welbeck the easiest of tasks in front of goal to tap it in. Welbeck had been under a lot of pressure to score his first goal for the club due to a number of misses in previous games but such was the calibre of the ball from Ozil, he couldn’t miss this one. Aly Cissokho then summed up the afternoon for Aston Villa as he sliced a shot from Kieran Gibbs into the back of his net.
Aston Villa came out after half-time with very little ambition to go forward and it was very much a training session for Arsene Wenger’s men. There was no real chances for either side with Guzan making a very comfortable save from Danny Welbeck’s curling effort which was the highlight of a very pedestrian-paced second half.
Welbeck and Ozil’s link up play in the first half is something that would of excited the travelling Arsenal faithful and they will be hoping this continues next week as they face Tottenham in the first North London Derby as the season. Paul Lambert and Roy Keane will be hoping this doesn’t have a lasting on their players as the next few fixtures don’t get any easier as they travel to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea followed by a visit from champions Manchester City.