BY OUR MAN AT VILLA PARK
ASTON VILLA PARK, a ground steeped in history and throbbing with noise, became the setting for the biggest seismic shift in the Premier League title race so far this season!
Emi Buendia sent the famous old stadium absolutely BONKERS with a sensational 95th-minute winner to seal a dramatic 2-1 victory over league leaders Arsenal.
The roar from the Holte End when Buendia’s strike sailed past the diving David Raya was deafening, a proper throwback to the days of booming football crowds, confirming this fixture as one of the most intense and compelling of the year.
The Gunners had looked like they salvaged a point after Leandro Trossard’s 52nd-minute equaliser cancelled out Matty Cash’s powerful 36th-minute opener. But the electric atmosphere at Villa Park, hailed by Villa right-back Cash as the “craziest it’s ever been”, clearly gave the Villans one final, desperate push.
Arsenal’s title march has been suddenly halted, and the red half of North London will be smarting as they taste their first league defeat since August.
Fort Knox Villa Park
The magnificent stadium in Birmingham has become a fortress under Unai Emery, with this result extending the team’s incredible winning streak and cutting the gap to the Gunners to just three points.
Every crunching tackle and burst of pace from the Villa side was met with a chorus of approval from the home support, turning Villa Park into a cauldron of noise that clearly played its part in unsettling the league leaders in the dying moments.
The late drama, which saw Buendia pounce after a goalmouth scramble to fire home, will be etched into Villa folklore and gives Manchester City a massive lift ahead of their own fixture, providing a golden opportunity to close the gap.
Mikel Arteta will be left ruing missed opportunities—and perhaps questioning how his high-flying side allowed the electric atmosphere of the Midlands ground to overwhelm them at the crucial moment.
But for the Villans and their ecstatic fans, Villa Park delivered the sort of moment that will be talked about for decades. The title race is now officially WIDE OPEN!
