Aston Villa 0 – 1 Arsenal: Saka Goal Gives Arteta Winning 250th Premier League Match

Bukayo Saka scored the decisive goal as Arsenal maintained their perfect start to the 2026/27 Premier League season with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Aston Villa at Villa Park on Monday night.

The result gave Mikel Arteta a winning celebration on his 250th Premier League game in charge of Arsenal, while the Gunners secured successive victories to open their title defence.

Saka struck one minute before the hour mark, bundling the ball home after Riccardo Calafiori raced beyond the Villa defence and delivered a dangerous cross. The England international has now scored in each of Arsenal’s opening two league games.

Villa had chances to take the lead, with Emiliano Buendía hitting the crossbar in the first half, but the hosts struggled to test Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya.

In fact, Villa have now gone their opening two league matches without registering a shot on target, becoming only the second team on record since 2003/04 to do so after Swansea in 2017/18.

Arsenal were awarded a free-kick after VAR overturned Jarred Gillett’s initial penalty decision following Ian Maatsen’s foul on Bukayo Saka. The review established that the contact had occurred outside the box, with Martin Ødegaard subsequently firing the free-kick narrowly wide

Arsenal introduced new signing Bruno Guimarães for his Premier League debut, while Ezri Konsa also made his first appearance for the Gunners against his former club after completing his move earlier this month.

Kai Havertz was denied by an excellent save from Villa debutant Zion Suzuki as Arsenal pushed for a second, but Saka’s goal ultimately proved enough.

The victory means Arsenal have won their opening two Premier League games and have also established a new club record by winning their first away league fixture of the season for five consecutive years.

For Villa, it was another disappointing night after their opening-day 4-0 defeat to Brighton, leaving Unai Emery’s side pointless and still without a shot on target in the new campaign.

Arteta also became only the second person to both play and manage at least 250 Premier League matches, joining Mark Hughes. The Arsenal boss played 284 Premier League games during his career before moving into management.