Buendia strikes late to stun Arsenal at Villa
Emiliano Buendia's 95th-minute winner dealt Arsenal just its second Premier League defeat of the season as Aston Villa moved up to second with a 2-1 win.
Buendia, who had replaced Villa's other goalscorer, Matty Cash, with three minutes to go, picked out the top corner late on to send Villa Park into raptures late in the game.
Martin Odegaard forced Emiliano Martinez into an early stop before David Raya denied Ollie Watkins' shot from close range in what was a lively start to the encounter.
But it was Villa that opened the scoring in the 36th minute, with Cash darting in behind Eberechi Eze before sending a fierce first-time finish through the legs of Raya.
Mikel Arteta responded to going behind by replacing Eze and Mikel Merino with Viktor Gyokeres and Leandro Trossard, with the latter making an almost immediate impact.
After good work from Bukayo Saka down the right, he saw his cross palmed away by Martinez, but the ball fell kindly at the back post for Trossard to squeeze over the line.
Both teams continued to push for a winner, with Watkins going close with a left-footed strike before the fingertips of Martinez sent Odegaard's drive from distance over the bar.
Donyell Malen then shot wide of the left-hand post for what looked to be the last golden opportunity, but there was to be late drama that went in favour of Unai Emery's team.
Having seen Youri Tielemans's point-blank attempt saved by Raya, the ball eventually made its way to Buendia, who steadied himself before curling home a dramatic winner.
Although Arteta could not fault the effort put in by his players, he felt their overall quality was far from their best.
"We have to focus on ourselves and certain standards that today, particularly individually, we didn't reach," Arteta said.
"The effort was absolutely there. We have to use that pain to go again. That's football.
"The consistency levels we have shown with everything that's happened with us has been incredible.
"We didn't have the dominance; we allowed open spaces. We gave two balls away that could have cost us the game before the actual goal.
"And then we don't score the chance when Declan [Rice] puts the ball across to Noni [Madueke] and Viktor [Gyokeres]. We don't score, goal-kick long, second ball, clear the ball, an individual action, a lot of chaos in the box, and you end up losing it. So it is painful."
Arsenal faces Club Brugge in the UEFA Champions League on Thursday (AEDT) before hosting Wolverhampton Wanderers in its next league game next weekend.
