On February 18, one of the matches of the 24th round of the English Football Championship took place. Aston Villa (England) and Arsenal (London) met.
Aston Villa - Arsenal - 2:4. English Championship, round 24English Championship, round 24
"Aston Villa" (England) — "Arsenal" (London) — 2:4 (2:1)
Goals: O. Watkins (5), Coutinho (31) — B. Saka (16), Zinchenko (61), Gabriel Martinelli (90+8), E. Martinez (90+3)
Warnings: B. Saka (45+3), Douglas Louis (45+3), E. Martinez (84)
On Premier League matchday, Villa Park hosted Aston Villa's matches against Arsenal in the afternoon. In an early attacking exchange, Aston Villa striker O. Watkins opened the scoring after 5 minutes. Arsenal responded in the 16th minute when B. Saka hit the net. The hosts, however, did not retreat, and soon Coutinho converted the score 2:1 in just half an hour. In the last act of the first half, two consecutive yellow cards were issued to B. Saka from Arsenal and Douglas Louis from Aston Villa. It seemed that this inspired the guests, as O. Zinchenko won back the goal and equalized the score at the beginning of the second half. It's time for some tactical changes as Aston Villa brought in J. Ramsey, L. Bailey and L. Dendonker, while Arsenal replaced L. Trossard, G. Martinelli and F. Vieira.
In the 78th minute, J. Duran, who replaced O. Watkins, and L. Digne, who replaced A. Moreno, meant that both sides used a full set of substitutions. Immediately afterwards, Aston Villa's E. Martínez unexpectedly kicked the ball into his own net, scoring Arsenal's fourth and turning the game. As time wore on, both sides continued to taunt each other, leading to yet another warning, this time given to E. Martinez shortly before the end of normal time. In this heated confrontation, the last two substitutions were made in the 90th minute: Arsenal introduced C. Tierney, R. Holding and M. Odegaard instead of O. Zinchenko, G. Xhaka and T. Tomiyasu. To complete the game's dramatic finale, G. Martinelli put the match beyond doubt by scoring a goal in injury time to end the game 4–2 to Arsenal.
In the next round, the opponents are waiting for such matches: Everton - Aston Villa, Leicester - Arsenal.
Match statistics Aston Villa - Arsenal:
| Aston Villa | Arsenal | |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | shots on target | 4 |
| 7 | blows | 18 |
| 1 | Blocked punches | 7 |
| 4 | Kicks from the box | 10 |
| 3 | Kicks from outside the box | 8 |
| 13 | Violations | 4 |
| 1 | corner | 9 |
| 0 | offsides | 2 |
| 33% | Ball possession | 67% |
| 2 | yellow cards | 1 |
| 0 | Red cards | 0 |
| 2 | Goalie saves | 3 |
| 278 | Total transfers | 560 |
| 215 | Accurate gear | 483 |
| 77% | Gear Accuracy | 86% |
