Arsenal finish with a flourish to defeat Aston Villa in six-goal thriller

Arsenal twice battled back from behind as an injury-time own goal from Emiliano Martinez helped them to a hard-fought victory at Aston Villa and breathed new life into their Premier League title bid.

The former Arsenal goalkeeper and World Cup winner could do nothing as Jorginho's fine strike cannoned off the crossbar and against the back of his head to settle a thrilling contest in favour of the Gunners.

Ollie Watkins and Philippe Coutinho had the home side ahead on two occasions, only for fine strikes from Bukayo Saka and Oleksandr Zinchenko to level for Arsenal.

Their winless run looked set to be extended to four Premier League games before Martinez inadvertently helped out his old side and substitute Gabriel Martinelli tapped into an empty net after the Villa stopper went up for a late corner.

With defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday night knocking them off the summit on goal difference and falling behind twice here, the response from Mikel Arteta’s side was impressive.

On the eve of the contest, Arteta had bemoaned the fact his side were being forced to play just 63 hours after the final whistle blew in their defeat to their title rivals.

They certainly started like a team not fully prepared for another crunch game as Watkins put the hosts ahead on six minutes, finishing with aplomb from Matty Cash’s long ball after the Poland full-back had robbed Zinchenko of the ball.

As in their 3-1 loss to City, Arsenal’s initial response to falling behind was a good one and – again mirroring Wednesday night – they drew level through Saka.

Ben White’s cross was not dealt with by the recalled Tyrone Mings, who headed the back straight onto the foot of Saka, the England man thrashing an effort past Martinez for his 10th goal of the