Arsenal beat Aston Villa 4-1. Chelsea and United draw, Newcastle ok

December 30, 2025 (changed December 31, 2025 | 08:12) – LONDRA (ING)

The team to beat. Arsenal remind the entire Premier League of who is ahead with an overbearing display of strength against Aston Villa, who arrived at the Emirates within reach in the wake of 12 victories in the last 13 matchdays but were demolished 4-1. “We’re top of the league” sing the over 60 thousand home fans after Gabriel Jesus completes the poker: the arrogance with which Arteta’s team dominated the second half, after a first half played better by the guests, reminds all the contenders that Arsenal are in the lead to stay there, to break the fast that has lasted since 2004 and the season of the invincibles.

unattainable

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The Arsenal of the second half is the same one that until the beginning of December, until the defeat at Villa Park against Emery’s team (remains the only one since 31 August), dominated the Premier League and the Champions League. In the matches following that knockout he seemed to have lost the aura of invincibility, the idea of ​​being unattainable for anyone, in England and in Europe. He found it again by tearing the best team in the Premier League to pieces in the second half. And he did it with his weapons: corner kicks, which gave rise to Gabriel’s 1-0 in the 3rd minute of the second half (this makes 17 goals from corners in 2025, one short of Manchester United’s record in a calendar year for a Premier team); the class in the middle of the pitch of Martin Ødegaard, who had a hand in both the second and third goals, the ability to distribute the weight of the attack across multiple players, with the 4 goals coming from four different scorers. And the solidity of the defence, where after the chances granted to Aston Villa at the start of the match (and mistakes, one even sensationally, by Ollie Watkins) the two central defenders were giants Gabriel, who came off in the 77th minute due to a muscle strain after yet another intuition on a shot from the spent Morgan Rogers, and William Saliba, perfect until the error which in the 93rd minute gave Watkins the winning goal for the Villans. Not even the absences, with Declan Rice added at the last minute to an infirmary which for a few days has also included Riccardo Calafiori, have managed to curb the excessive power of Arteta’s team.

relaunch

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A victory like this, overwhelming and against a direct rival, is a masterpiece that allows Arsenal not only to exclude another contender from the race for the Premier League (Aston Villa is now at -6) but also to remind everyone, starting with Manchester City (on New Year’s Eve, Pep Guardiola’s team will have to win on the pitch of the terrible newly promoted Sunderland to return to -2) the level that Arteta’s team can reach. He seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown after Saturday’s complicated victory over Brighton, with all the injuries making his run at the top of the class more complicated: a victory like this serves to sweep away doubts, to relaunch Arsenal’s ambitions of domination. Because Arteta has everything to win: the best defense in the championship, a stellar midfield in which Martin Ødegaard is returning to shine, an attack capable of ensuring goals even if the center forward doesn’t throw it in.

resized

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Aston Villa collapsed in the second half after showing in the first half that they not only could match Arsenal, but could beat them again. Emery had repeated on Saturday at Stamford Bridge that he didn’t think his team were title worthy: this defeat seems to prove him right, because the Gunners have reached a level that the guests haven’t even come close to. It is the level of the best, the level of the teams that win championships. The one that Arsenal, after a few weeks of empty passages, reminded everyone they could touch.

the others

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Not just Arsenal’s extraordinary show of strength in the first act of the 19th Premier League. At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea were held to a 2-2 draw by Bournemouth, in a match with 28 fantastic minutes and the other 70 minutes worth seeing again. A fair draw overall which leaves Maresca’s team on 30 points and with only one victory in the last 7 games: the Cherries, with Semenyo betrothed to City as the protagonist with his long throws which favored the two goals, have been in abstinence for 9 rounds. Manchester United’s 1-1 draw at Old Trafford with last-place Wolverhampton also makes noise: a goal from Joshua ZIrkzee, who started, isn’t enough for the Red Devils to avoid making a fool of themselves against a team that hasn’t won yet in 19 matchdays. Important victories for Newcastle (3-1 against second-to-last Burnley) and Everton (2-0 in Nottingham), a wasted opportunity for West Ham who let Brighton reach 2-2 and only nibbled a point away from Forest, the first to be saved if the championship ended today.