Mikel Arteta had acknowledged the hazards that awaited Arsenal, the Premier League’s pacesetters, at Villa Park. Aston Villa inflicted irrecoverable damage on his side in January, Unai Emery’s team rallying from two goals down to earn a point at the Emirates Stadium, a result that left Arsenal lagging behind Liverpool and with too much ground to make up in the title race. Two seasons ago Villa did the double over Arsenal, two late goals earning an away victory in the final weeks of the season that paved the way for Manchester City to pip Arteta’s side to the crown.

So Arteta and Arsenal knew the challenge of unpicking a Villa side that had won 12 of their previous 14 matches in all competitions, including eight of their previous nine league matches. Emery equally knew the difficulty of ov

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