‘Sickening’ Arsenal loss at Aston Villa ‘a good result for football’ – Martin Keown and Peter Crouch on dramatic Premier League clash

Emi Buendia’s last-minute strike sent Villa Park into raptures and condemned The Gunners to their first defeat since August.

Matty Cash had given the hosts a first-half lead, before Leandro Trossard struck back for the league leaders.

“It was an amazing finish to this game,” former Arsenal and Villa defender Keown said on TNT Sports.

“You’re happy for the Villa fans in the end, but that’s a sickening way for Arsenal to lose this epic game. And that’s what the Premier League gives us now.”

‘Use that pain to go again’ – Arteta calls on Arsenal to bounce back after Villa defeat

Video credit: TNT Sports

“You don’t want them running away with it,” he said. “We’ve pulled them back in now. We want the race as tight and as long as possible, so it was a good result for football.”

Arsenal’s mentality will now be tested as they attempt to bounce back from their most significant setback of the season so far.

“This is where you’ve got to recover,” Keown added. “You dust yourself off. It’s how you react to adversity and they’ll see this as a major blow.

“This is a difficult place to come to, it’s a fortress, they’ve lost one game here all season, so it can happen. There’s been a succession of away games, difficult fixtures, and they nearly got through it.

“Gabriel, Saliba, they missed them a bit in some of these duels, the physicality from set-pieces. They’ll welcome people back.

“You have to applaud some of the jobs these players have had to do when they’ve hardly featured for Arsenal, certainly in central defence.”

Incredible scenes at Villa Park as Buendia scores late winner to dent Arsenal’s title hopes

Video credit: TNT Sports

Reflecting further on Arsenal’s defensive troubles, Keown said: “It’s a bit of a patchwork defence. Timber’s playing central defender; he’s the right-back normally.

“Mistakes are made, but you go away and think about it. You’ve got a long journey back now, a long evening, and you use it as oxygen when you come back.

“There’s been a lot of hurt over the years and this is maybe just a blip on the road. I don’t think this is going to derail what they’re trying to achieve.

“It’s important to get people back again to form that base in defence. They’re still learning, new partnership in the middle. You can’t expect it to be perfect. But it’s disappointing.”

Crouch, too, claimed Arsenal remain the favourites for the title.

“Plenty of teams will come to Villa Park and come unstuck,” he said.

“This Arsenal side have been the best team in the league. There’s no disgrace. They’ve come here and created chances.

“When they get the two centre-backs fit, they’re still the team to beat.”