![\"Martin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0024ee7f-614.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\nBukayo Saka’s second-half strike gave Arsenal an edgy 1-0 victory at Aston Villa.<\/p>\n
The England international converted from close range just before the hour as the defending Premier League champions made it two wins from two in the new campaign.<\/p>\n
This was far from a vintage display, but the Gunners ground out the win in familiar fashion.<\/p>\n
It was a second successive loss for Aston Villa, who are in a period of transition following a tumultuous summer which has seen a host of big-name players sold, including Ezri Konsa who received a mixed reception on his Villa Park return.<\/p>\n
There have been arrivals as well, with striker Nicolas Jackson making his debut, and despite the loss there were positive signs.<\/p>\n
It could have been a different story had Emiliano Buendia\u2019s effort gone in instead of crashing into the crossbar, while they could not force a leveller despite late pressure.<\/p>\n
Impending Villa arrivals Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Ibrahim Mbaye, who will join the club before Tuesday\u2019s transfer deadline, were in the stands, and they will have enjoyed what they saw in the opening 15 minutes.<\/p>\n
Captain John McGinn curled an effort over before Buendia went closer from a similar range as his 22-yard effort thundered into the crossbar.<\/p>\n
Arsenal gained control of possession, but made no headway in terms of creating chances.<\/p>\n
And the opening 45 minutes ended without a shot on target after Ian Maatsen had drifted an effort wide after cutting in from the left.<\/p>\n
Left-back Maatsen drilled another shot wide as Villa started the second half on the front foot.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But the game swung again and Arsenal thought they had been awarded a penalty in the 54th minute when Maatsen bundled over Saka, with referee Jarred Gillett pointing to the spot after careful deliberation.<\/p>\n
However, VAR showed the referee got it wrong as the contact occurred outside the box.<\/p>\n
Martin Odegaard whipped the free-kick just wide, but the Gunners had the momentum.<\/p>\n
And they took the lead two minutes later.<\/p>\n
Half-time substitute Eberechi Eze fed Riccardo Calafiori, and his ball across goal was turned in from close range by a gleeful Saka.<\/p>\n
Villa had lost their way, but regained it as they pushed for a leveller.<\/p>\n
Debutant Jackson played in McGinn, but the Scotland international could not sort his feet out and missed the chance to shoot, with Matty Cash\u2019s follow-up effort blocked.<\/p>\n
The hosts thought they should have had a penalty soon after when the busy Maatsen went down in the box, but Gillett said no and VAR did not intervene.<\/p>\n
With men committed forward, Villa were susceptible to the counter attack and Havertz drilled an effort at straight at debutant home goalkeeper Zion Suzuki.<\/p>\n
Villa threw bodies forward, but Mikel Arteta\u2019s side showed all the nous and game management required to see out the win as the hosts ended the match without a shot on target.<\/p>\n
\n
Watch two FAI Cup quarter-finals live on RT\u00c9 2 and RT\u00c9 Player this weekend – St Patrick’s Athletic v Bohemians from 3.45pm on Saturday and Derry City v Dundalk from 3.45pm on Sunday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bukayo Saka’s second-half strike gave Arsenal an edgy 1-0 victory at Aston Villa. The England international converted from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-610639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}