Arsenal’s Premier League title hopes suffered a setback as Aston Villa secured a 2-1 victory with Emiliano Buendia’s stoppage-time winner on Saturday. The result reduced Villa’s gap to league leaders Arsenal to three points, while also providing Manchester City an opportunity to gain ground on Arsenal.In the final moments at Villa Park, Buendia found the back of the net in the fifth minute of added time, leaving Arsenal shell-shocked.“In the manner that happened at the end, obviously, (it is) really difficult to take,” Arteta told TNT Sports.Arsenal’s third consecutive away game without a win, following draws with Sunderland and Chelsea, has allowed rivals City and Villa to increase pressure at the top of the table.Villa moved to second place temporarily after winning nine of their last ten matches. This turnaround came after a challenging start under Unai Emery, where they failed to win their first five games.“At the minute we’re on a great run,” said Matty Cash, who scored Villa’s opener in the 36th. “We know it’s not even Christmas yet, so we have to keep being demanding, keep being consistent, and then we’ll see where it takes us.”Arsenal’s substitute Leandro Trossard equalized seven minutes into the second half.Buendia, who entered the game in the 87th minute, proved to be a game-changing substitution by scoring past Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya.“We fought until the last minute, the last second, it was a really incredible win,” he said.This marked only Arsenal’s second defeat of the season, their first since losing 1–0 to Liverpool in August.“We were 18 games unbeaten, and yet still the margin is so small,” Arteta said. “We have to focus on ourselves and set the standards that today, particularly, individually we didn’t raise that level. The effort was absolutely there and use that pain to go again.”
