Arsenal 3 Aston Villa 0 - match report

Aston Villa were out-passed and outclassed by an in-form Arsenal side who comfortably swept aside the claret and blues at the Emirates Stadium.

Kieran Gibbs opened the scoring after quarter of an hour when his low shot beat Villa keeper Shay Given at his near post before Theo Walcott scored with easy in the 25th minute.

The Gunners had numerous chances to increase their lead throughout a contest in which Villa barely created any but had to wait until injury time when Mikel Arteta scored the pick of the bunch with a stunning long-range free-kick.

Charles N'Zogbia was left out of the Villa starting line-up with the official reason being a knee injury in the same week in which he claimed he was misquoted in a French newspaper where he was critical of boss Alex McLeish.

Emile Heskey came in for N'Zogbia while right-back Alan Hutton was passed fit with an ankle injury as McLeish elected for his regular 4-2-3-1 formation with the former England striker leading the line.

The home side began with the confidence of a team that has chalked up six wins on the bounce and they carved open the Villa defence in the 10th minute with some clever build-up which saw Given palm away a shot from Walcott.

It did not take long for the Gunners to find the net, however, and the only surprise was that the source of their 16th-minute opener was Arsenal left-back Gibbs rather than the prolific Robin van Persie.

Gervinho threaded a ball into the penalty area for Gibbs who was allowed far too much time and space as Villa's defence were caught ball watching and his low finish squirmed under Given at the keeper's near post.

A poor pass from Carlos Cuellar was punished nine minutes later when he gave the ball away to Alex Song who dinked a trademark ball over the Villa defence into the box for Walcott who calmly dispatched a low finish past the helpless Given.

The Gunners had further opportunities to increase their advantage before half-time as Given tipped over a fine effort from Arteta while Stephen Warnock acrobatically headed over a Van Persie's deflected shot.

Villa began the second half with more positive intent as Marc Albrighton delivered a few teasing crosses into the penalty area but the they were comfortably dealt with by the Arsenal defence.

Tomas Rosicky stung the palms of Given with a long-range effort while Arteta went close with a free-kick from a difficult angle which he curled over the bar.

The claret and blues were largely restricted to half chances and Gary Gardner, who replaced Chris Herd shortly after the interval, saw a deflected shot drift past the post with 20 minutes left on the clock.

Fellow substitute Andreas Weimann should have done better when he dragged a shot wide shortly afterwards after he latched onto a lazy pass from Andre Santos.

Arsenal's appeals for penalty were waved away by referee Phil Dowd late on when the impressive Stephen Ireland caught Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain late on while Weimann saw his shot blocked at the other end after a neat turn.

But the Gunners put the icing on the cake in injury time when Arteta finally found the net from a set-piece as he smashed a swerving free-kick past Given from 30 yards out.

By Timothy Abraham