Martin Keown praises Arsenal trio after Aston Villa win but calls title talk ‘ridiculous’

Martin Keown was full of praise for three Arsenal players after the Gunners continued their brilliant run against Aston Villa, but said it was ‘ridiculous’ to label his former club ‘title contenders’ after just five games.

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Arsenal maintained their perfect start to the season and kept their place at the top of the Premier League with a 2-1 win over struggling Villa.

Douglas Luiz’s corner beat Aaron Ramsdale to cancel out Gabriel Jesus’ first-half opener, but Gabriel Martinelli ensured Villa’s fight back was short-lived as he scored a second-half winner.

Keown hailed the ‘character and personality’ Arsenal showed to make it five wins from five and reserved special praise for Albert Sambi Lokonga, Granit Xhaka and Kieran Tierney.

‘It’s a fantastic run Arsenal are on at the moment,’ Keown told BT Sport after Arsenal’s win at the Emirates. ‘I really enjoyed the character and personality they showed tonight.

‘It could have fallen apart after Villa equalised but Arsenal are going from strength to strength. I’ve got to mention Lokonga, no-one has really been speaking about him but he’s come in there with a few injuries about and done really well.

‘Xhaka as well in the midfield, that was one of his best games for Arsenal. Tierney was also great, no one is talking about [injured summer signing Oleksandr] Zinchenko tonight because of that performance.’

Arsenal’s superb start to the Premier League season has sparked excitement over a potential title challenge in north London.

Keown ‘hopes this is the start or something special’ at his former club but says it is too early to consider the Gunners as a genuine threat to defending champions Manchester City.

He added: ‘It’s step by step with this Arsenal team.