EPL: Arsenal punishes Villa
Arsenal
Danny Welbeck gets off the mark for
Gunners
Arsenal make it three goals in 192 seconds
Villa suffer first league defeat of season
Danny Welbeck opened his Arsenal account as
three goals in four minutes helped the Gunners
beat Aston Villa.
Arsenal opened the scoring when Welbeck put
Mesut Ozil through on goal and the German
slotted home calmly.
Ozil repaid the favour by crossing for Welbeck to
sidefoot in from close-range as the England striker
scored for the first time in 16 club games.
Villa defender Aly Cissokho turned a Kieran Gibbs
shot into his own net and the Midlands side failed
to recover.
Arsenal were fortunate to escape with only a 2-0
defeat from Borussia Dortmund in the Champions
League in midweek, while they had drawn three
Premier League games before the trip to the
Midlands.
They ended that stutter in form with devastating
goal blitz in which two of their more criticised
stars in Ozil and Welbeck did the damage as the
Gunners made it 16 games at Villa Park without
defeat.
Villa had been this season's surprise package and
a win would have moved them top of the Premier
League, but they are now third with the Gunners
moving up to fourth.
The defeat was the first in the league suffered by
Villa this season as a combination of Arsenal's
first-half performance and a virus that had swept
through their camp proved too much for them to
handle.
Villa boss Paul Lambert had lost defender Nathan
Baker and midfielder Ashley Westwood to the
illness but said that, despite other players "not
feeling the best", his side would "go for it".
The home side were initially true to his word as
Gunners keeper Wojciech Szczesny had to palm a
Fabian Delph shot around a post and then save a
Ciaran Clark header at point-blank range.
But when Arsenal click into gear they are difficult
to stop, which a stunned Villa found to their cost
as they conceded three goals in quick succession.
Ozil put the Gunners in front when he ran onto a
beautifully-weighted Welbeck pass before sliding a
left-foot shot past keeper Brad Guzan.
The World Cup winner went from goalscorer to
provider when he crossed for Welbeck to score
with a first-time sidefoot from six yards, before a
Gibbs shot was turned into his own net by
Cissokho.
The pressure was on Welbeck before the game
after he had missed glorious chances against both
Manchester City and Dortmund but he helped
relieve it the same venue where he scored twice
for former club Manchester United in a 3-0 win
last season.
Wenger had been forced to defend Ozil after some
low key performances from the World Cup winner
so far this season and the playmaker repaid his
manager's faith as Arsenal comfortably closed out
the game after their goal burst.
Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert on virus
sweeping through side: "I don't know what kind of
virus it is but it is certainly doing its rounds at the
training ground so we will clear that place for a
couple of days.
"To play Arsenal you need everyone fit and we
never had that, but all credit to them for the
second half - the lads were running on empty.
"The players have been brilliant at the start of the
season and if somebody had said we would have
10 points by this time I would have taken it."
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "We had a good
work-rate and concentration from the start. We
had a very good first half when we were in control
and dominated the game.
"They [Danny Welbeck and Mesut Ozil] combined
very well, especially in the first half. Our plan
today was to play Mesut behind their midfield and
it worked.
"I'm confident we will go from strength to strength
now."
Arsenal manager Arsene
Wenger (left) has not seen
his side lose a league game
since April 2014
Arsenal playmaker Mesut
Ozil scored his first goal of
the season with his effort at
Aston Villa
Welbeck's goal was his first
in the league since March
2014
Villa had conceded just one
league goal before letting in
three against Arsenal
Ozil and Welbeck helped
Arsenal on the way to the
second league win of the
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