Aston Villa Deal Blow to Arsenal in Premier League Title Race

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Arsenal’s bid to win the Premier League was dealt a huge blow on Saturday following a thrilling 2-2 draw with Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

The Gunners needed to win in order to keep the pressure on leaders Liverpool, who had beaten Brentford earlier in the day thanks to a stoppage-time brace by Darwin Nunez.

Mikel Arteta’s went about that assignment on a good note initially by going two goals up, only to surrender the lead and end up sharing the spoils against an impressive Villa side.

Gabriel Martinelli put Arsenal ahead in the first half off a cross from Leandro Trossard, before Kai Havertz doubled the home side’s advantage 10 minutes after the interval – with Trossard being the provider once again.

Aston Villa, managed by Arteta’s predecessor, Unai Emery, responded just four minutes after Havertz’s goal through Youri Tielemans.

The Belgian midfielder’s diving header from Lucas Digne’s cross beat David Raya and nestled into the bottom corner to spark a comeback for the visitors.

That comeback was completed when Matty Cash’s cross found an unmarked Ollie Watkins, whose volley beat the Arsenal goalkeeper to level the scores with his 10th of the season.

Arsenal went in search of the winner and Havertz thought he had given his team the advantage in the 88th minute when he turned in Mikel Merino’s shot, but the German was adjudged to have used his arm as he turned the ball in, and VAR ruled out his goal.

Merino then went close to a winner for Arsenal, getting denied by the Villa woodwork in stoppage time. The result leaves Arsenal six points behind leaders Liverpool (who have a game at hand) on the Premier League table.

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