Arsenal round out 2025 by decimating title rivals Villa

This victory may well be one they look back on in May. Faced with the Premier League's inform team, a side bouncing into north London after eight hair-raising wins on the spin, Arsenal blew away the merry men of Aston Villa in a sensational 30-minute, four-goal blitz at the Emirates.

- KIERAN JACKSON

To close out 2025, jubilant on the touchline, it was Mikel Arteta's biggest statement yet.

What sort of message has it sent to Manchester City? An emphatic one. In recent weeks, it has been nervy late-game viewing for Arsenal supporters, so desperate for this season to be, beyond any other competitions, their season in the Premier League. This was a proper test of their title credentials under the lights: a team with 11 consecutive victories in all competitions. The league's inform player in Morgan Rogers. An ex-manager in Unai Emery smelling a 24-day double. But they answered it and, whisper it quietly, in the manner of champions.

And when will Arsenal's - let's call it for what it is - unbelievable set-piece machine run out of gas? Certainly not yet. Take the mickey out of the hand-waving antics of set-piece coach Nicolas Jover as much as you like, but the end results are staggering. From corners alone, that's 17 goals in the calendar year. It was the returning Gabriel (how they've missed him) whose sheer presence in the penalty area saw ex-Gunner Emiliano Martinez fluff his catch in the air, two minutes after the interval. And from that point on, it was one-way traffic.

Martin Zubimendi shortly made it two, scoring a goal via a run from deep you'd actually associate with the absent Declan Rice, before Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus wrapped up a starry-eyed night with pinpoint finishes for the 60,000 in attendance.