Mikel Arteta hails ‘a big win’ after Arsenal beat Aston Villa

Mikel Arteta hailed a big three points after Arsenal held on for a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa.

The result saw the Gunners bounce back from defeat by Liverpool in midweek and move four points clear of Manchester United with a game in hand in the race to qualify for the Champions League.

Arteta had complained about the scheduling, with Arsenal having to play at lunchtime having hosted Liverpool on Wednesday evening, and he said: “It was a big win.

“After the defeat against Liverpool we wanted to come here and play well first, which we did, and get the three points because we want to keep the momentum going. I think the team showed today a lot of personality to come and play the way we played. We dominated the game.”

Bukayo Saka scored the only goal in the 30th minute and shone during the first half before being substituted with 20 minutes left.

“He was really fatigued and after Liverpool he had an issue with his hip,” said Arteta. “He’s played a lot of minutes and you could tell. We don’t want to risk (anything). He needs to go with England now and we decided the best thing to do was to take him off.”

Arteta added that both Saka and Brazil’s Gabriel Martinelli, who missed out through illness, should be fit for international duty but keeper Aaron Ramsdale’s hip injury will keep him out of England’s forthcoming matches.

Villa improved after not managing a shot in the first half and hit a post through Ollie Watkins but boss Steven Gerrard was left frustrated at the final whistle.

He said: “We didn’t deserve anything after that first-half performance, I thought we were second best. I thought Arsenal played really well, controlled a lot of the first half.

“I thought we had too much respect for Arsenal. We lacked belief in