Mikel Arteta paid gracious tribute to Aston Villa after Ross Barkley and Jack Grealish ran the Gunners ragged to secure a famous 3-0 Premier League win at the Emirates, as reported by the club’s official website.
It’s almost impossible to believe just a few months ago Villa dodged relegation by the skin of their teeth.
Seven games into the new season, Dean Smith’s increasingly impressive side have won five times already. They followed up that iconic 7-2 thumping of Liverpool with a 3-0 shellacking of an Arsenal side who, under Pep Guardiola’s steel-eyed protégé, were supposed to have put humiliations like this behind them.
Barkley and Grealish were unplayable in north London, while Ollie Watkins took his tally to six in seven league games with a clinical second-half brace after Bukayo Saka’s early own goal.
And while Arteta was left fuming with his own side’s performance, the Spaniard was still gracious in defeat.
“I said to (Dean Smith) congratulations and big credit for the way they’ve played. I’ve seen them a lot in the last few days obviously and some of the performances they put in were top drawer,” said the former Manchester City assistant.
“When you’re not at the races and this team is at their best, they have the quality players to hurt you and I think they were really good.
“(Villa) wanted it much more than us, and they showed it.”
Remarkably, Aston Villa are just three points off Leicester City in top spot – with a game in hand.
And while Barkley, Grealish and Watkins will hog the headlines, it was one of those days where every single player in black was an 8/10 or better.
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