Player ratings as Aston Villa disrupt title race again with 1-0 victory over Arsenal

With a 1-0 win over Arsenal on Saturday evening, Aston Villa established a new club record of 15 consecutive home league victories.

Not long into the game, the home team scored, leading them to victory and placing them a point behind Arsenal. This win also puts them only one point short of Premier League leaders, Liverpool.

Villa held off Arsenal for nearly 100 minutes, frustrating the visitors who could have reclaimed the top spot following Liverpool's win over Crystal Palace earlier in the day. Mikel Arteta, Arsenal's manager, watched from the sidelines.

Despite a strong start by Villa, Arsenal nearly scored first with quick successive play switches. Gabriel Martinelli crossed from the right, but Lucas Digne scuffed the return pass from Bukayo Saka.

Villa turned this around by immediately scoring at their first opportunity. Leon Bailey made a play along the sideline and passed to John McGinn who calmly scored from 12 yards out.

Arsenal began growing in confidence, but Emiliano Martinez of Villa managed to keep out a lob attempt by Martinelli. It was unclear whether an offside violation might have nullified any successful scoring attempt.

After dispossessing Villa's Ezri Konsa, Martinelli fed the ball through to Kai Havertz. His subsequent pass to Gabriel Jesus was redirected to Martin Odegaard, whose strike was caught by Martinez.

Youri Tielemans brilliantly set up Ollie Watkins with a pass between the lines, but former Brentford teammate David Raya foiled the attempt. The referee later determined that Watkins was offside, a decision underscored by video review.

Arsenal's fury was palpable when, after a lengthy video review, they were denied a penalty kick. It appeared that Douglas Luiz had fouled Jesus while trying to clear from his own penalty area.

Villa prevented a possible equaliser when a corner kick by Saka was deflected by Martinez against Watkins and off the goalpost, and Diego Carlos stopped William Saliba's header attempt.

A stroke of bad luck for Odegaard came when he failed to connect with a pass from Havertz. Raya then saved a low shot from Digne.

Saka managed to get past Martinez and moved into an open scoring situation, but the offside flag stopped him from scoring the equaliser.

Villa nearly increased their lead with a fast counterattack. Diaby crossed to Watkins but, once again, Raya prevented the goal.

In the closing minute of normal time, Arsenal thought they had scored when Havertz delivered a deep cross from Saka and the ball went over the line. However, video review showed that the ball had bounced off Havertz's arm, thus disqualifying the purported goal.

A final cross by Declan Rice to Eddie Nketiah went unanswered, allowing Villa to claim the win.