Arsenal reclaim top spot after 17-second Villa blitz

Two first-half goals in less than a minute are enough to put the Gunners back on top

Olivier Giroud scores for Arsenal against Aston Villa
(Image credit: 2014 Getty Images)

Aston Villa 1 Arsenal 2. Seventeen seconds of sweet football was enough for Arsenal to leapfrog Manchester City and Chelsea back to the top of the Premier League. Two first-half goals, the first from Jack Wilshere and the second from Olivier Giroud gave the Gunners a comfortable lead, but a diving header from Christian Benteke – his first goal since September – on 75 minutes ensured the visitors endured an anxious last fifteen minutes.

They held on to extend their unbeaten record at Villa Park to 15 matches, going back to December 1998, but more importantly the three points means that the Gunners now have 48, one ahead of City and two more than Chelsea.

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Bill Mann is a football correspondent for The Week.co.uk, scouring the world's football press daily for the popular Transfer Talk column.