Bukayo Saka showcases Arsenal’s style and steel as Gunners pass latest test with conviction

The sights walking around a balmy Birmingham this morning - beer gardens full, shorts (prematurely) summoned from the depths of drawers for the first time in months - gave this fixture the aesthetic backdrop of an early-season August encounter.

But this is the business end, next week’s international break the last staging post before the run-in gets underway in earnest, and after the midweek defeat to Liverpool that ended a streak of five straight wins, it was crucial that Arsenal hit back immediately.

They did just that, thanks to, predictably, Bukayo Saka, whose goal earned a 1-0 win over Aston Villa that opens up a four-point cushion over Manchester United and ensures the Gunners will spend the next fortnight in a Champions League position.

The sunny conditions were accompanied by a howling wind that probably played some part in Arsenal’s dominance of the first-half as the hosts struggled to make use of Ollie Watkins’ usual hard-running outlet and chased shadows as Mikel Arteta’s side fizzed and floated around Villa Park.

They were put under significantly more pressure after the break, Watkins going closest to a leveller as his shot deflected onto the near post, but the way they are playing, it looks like taking plenty to blow Arsenal off course.

The tight turnaround from Wednesday night to Saturday lunchtime that Mikel Arteta has been so riled by was not enough, nor the absences of Aaron Ramsdale and Gabriel Martinelli that forced the Spaniard into changing his lineup for the first time in five matches.

A lack of depth may yet prove Arsenal’s undoing, but in Emile Smith Rowe, Arteta had a ready-made replacement for Martinelli, whose display in the opening 45 minutes in particular will no doubt have the Gunners boss