Paul Merson believes Arsenal can easily win the Premier League after defeating in-form Aston Villa with an “impressive” 4-1 win at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners, without the injured Declan Rice, scored four goals in a second-half onslaught to end Premier League title rivals Villa’s winning streak of 11 games.
“Psychologically it felt like we deserved more than three points,” Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher said.
Arsenal, who have beaten Wolves, Everton and Brighton in their last three games, were far from their best against Villa in the first half, when the weight of expectations of ending a 22-year title wait seemed to be weighing on them.
However, they came back to life after the break with a performance that served as a warning to Manchester City ahead of their New Year’s Day game against Sunderland (kick-off 8pm), which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.
“Arsenal’s second half 30 minutes were fantastic,” Melson said on the Soccer Special. “They suffocated Aston Villa and looked pretty mediocre in the end.
“It’s a great result for Arsenal.
“There were some results against Wolves and against Brighton that were over the line. It was a close game, but it was against one of the most in-form teams in the country, if not Europe, and Arsenal dismantled them.”
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Watch for free: Premier League match highlights between Arsenal and Aston Villa
He added: “The lead was two points from the draw against Villa and Man City’s win on New Year’s Day means Josep Guardiola’s side will be at the top of the table. But they currently have a five-point lead and three more goals to go, because it’s a very close game and goal difference will be important.”
“If you look at Arsenal, they’ve already had an away game and given this result against Villa, I don’t know who can stop them. They’ve played all the big teams at home apart from Man City and they’re playing like that, so it’s hard to see them being stopped.”
“I think they will win the Premier League very easily.
“It’s a statement result and Man City will also be taking note. They’ll think wow from Arsenal after that.”
Yes: We won because of our mentality.
Arsenal’s Gabriel Jesus celebrates after scoring his team’s fourth goal
After a goalless first half, the home side took the lead within three minutes of the second period when Bukayo Saka’s corner was deflected by Emiliano Martinez and the ball hit Gabriel in the thigh.
Arsenal doubled their advantage in the 52nd minute when Martin Zvimendi converted Martin Odegaard’s deft defence-cutting pass, and Leandro Trossard’s long-range effort 69 minutes later put the game firmly out of Villa’s reach.
Gabriel Jesus then scored his first goal since New Year’s Day after coming on as a substitute, and Ollie Watkins scored in stoppage time to give the team a comfortable victory.
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Gabriel Jesus came off the bench to score Arsenal’s fourth goal in the Premier League match against Aston Villa.
The impressive win was the perfect tonic for Mikel Arteta’s men against a team they had beaten 2-1 in stoppage time at Villa Park just 24 days earlier.
“It was amazing,” Jesus told Sky Sports.
“It’s always difficult to play against Villa, they always come here and try to hurt us.
“At first you could see they were trying to slow the game down, but we won because of our mentality.”
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Leandro Trossard’s incredible goal gives Arsenal three goals against Aston Villa in the Premier League
Arteta satisfied with ‘prolific’ Arsenal
“I’m very happy,” Gunners manager Mikel Arteta said of his team’s strong performance. “We play a game every three days and today we played an opponent who has won 11 games in a row.
“They are a great team, very difficult to play against, and we knew there would be periods throughout the game.
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Martin Zvimendi’s ‘ruthless’ finish doubles Arsenal’s Premier League lead against Aston Villa
“We talked about how tough the game was going to be emotionally, and we struggled for the first 10 minutes. Then we adjusted and got a little more control. We didn’t score, but we did well in the second half.”
“We competed much better in everything. The timing was better, individual goals were achieved in an exceptional way and we were very efficient in everything we did.”
“Unlike the last few games where we had a lot of big moments, today we were able to make the difference very prolifically and accurately.”
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Gabriel scores a corner kick for Arsenal in the Premier League match against Aston Villa on his return from injury
What’s next for Arsenal?
The Gunners travel to Bournemouth on Saturday, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports. Kickoff at 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, January 3rd, 5pm
5:30pm kickoff
Thursday, January 8th 7pm
Kickoff at 8pm
They will then conclude their series of celebratory matches with a home game against Liverpool on Thursday, January 8, which will also be broadcast live on Sky Sports. Kickoff at 8pm.
