Aston Villa boss Dean Smith has told the club’s official website that Tyrone Mings set the tone for his side right in the first minute against Arsenal on Saturday.
Mings snapped in to a challenge with Alexandre Lacazette in the early stages, as Villa looked to start positively.
Mings may have helped to inspire his Villa teammates, who flew out of the traps.
From the resulting throw-in, Villa capitalised, with Ollie Watkins scoring to put his side into the lead.
That strike proved to be the only goal of the game, and Smith didn’t want Mings’s role in the winner to be overlooked at full-time.
He said: “We started with a real intensity and were on the front foot. They played a ball down the side and Tyrone has come and cleared it in a tackle with Lacazette, which is something I like at the start of the game.
“From that throw-in we end up going back and Emi plays a great ball to Bert and we force a mistake from them.”
Arsenal may have faced a backlash from Villa, as their last performance against West Ham fell short of their standards.
Smith was visibly frustrated after his side’s defeat to West Ham, but they produced a much improved display on Saturday.
Mings continued how he started and put in a seriously commanding performance as Arsenal just couldn’t find a way past the Villa defence.
Smith side’s win has lifted them up to ninth place in the Premier League table, four points clear of Arsenal.
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