August 31, 2022
Gabriel Martinelli popped up with the winner 13 minutes from time to beat Aston Villa 2-1 and extend our winning start to the season to five games.
The Brazilian netted the crucial goal just three minutes after the visitors had pulled level against the run of play through a Douglas Luiz effort direct from corner, which cancelled out Gabriel Jesus’ 30th-minute strike.
However Martinelli’s third goal of the season handed us a deserved victory from a game we dominated throughout, which was the 200th since we moved to Emirates Stadium.
It took just 10 minutes for Emiliano Martinez to begin seeing his goal peppered with shots from all angles. Firstly, Jesus forced him into a save, and from the resulting corner Gabriel saw an effort deflect narrowly wide, and then the defender shot straight at our former shot-stopper.
Jesus would test his fellow South American again before a desperate block by Tyrone Mings prevented Martin Odegaard from netting for the third game in succession, and then with the goal gaping Bukayo Saka managed to screw a dangerous cross wide as a golden chance went begging.
But finally, on the half-hour mark they made their pressure tell. There wasn’t much danger when Martinelli found Granit Xhaka on the edge of the box, but his low cross clipped Ezri Konsa and spun goalwards, forcing Martinez to palm the ball into the path of Jesus who gobbled up the chance to put his side in front.
Villa offered very little in attack in the opening 45 minutes, and were lucky to escape into the interval just one goal behind when a goalmouth scramble following another Jesus saved shot saw the ball hacked off the line, and an amazing full-length save by Martinez denied Martinelli netting an outrageous half-volley which looked destined for the top corner.
Following the restart, chances were more of a premium despite us getting into plenty of promising positions. Odegaard again forced Martinez to fling himself through the air to keep the ball out with a free-kick.
But while it was still 1-0 Villa knew they only needed one moment of inspiration or luck and the fingertips of Aaron Ramsdale were required to deny Leon Bailey complete a counter-attack, but that would lead to the visitors’ equaliser when Douglas Luiz scored directly from a corner, and survived a VAR check for holding on Ramsdale from Ollie Watkins on the goalline.
However, just as we have done all season when facing a setback, we quickly recovered and three minutes later got back in front. Martinelli started and finished the move, cutting in from the left and finding Takehiro Tomiyasu, who coolly slipped in Saka. His cross towards the back post was perfect for Martinelli, whose finish just managed to deceive Martinez.
The final stages saw us hold onto the points relatively comfortably with Ramsdale untested again, as we held onto top spot in the Premier League and kept our 100 per cent record intact.
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