Emiliano Martinez had to be held back as he clashed with a group of Arsenal fans following Aston Villa’s crushing 4-1 defeat at the Emirates.
It proved an immensely disappointing night for Martinez on his return to Arsenal, where he spent ten years, as Mikel Arteta’s men swept their visitors aside to lay down a marker in this year’s title race.
Tuesday’s high-stakes Premier League contest came to life after a goalless opening 45 minutes and it was the Gunners who drew first blood as Gabriel Magalhaes beat Martinez in the air to break the deadlock.
The hosts had a second within just seven minutes of the break as Martin Zubimendi was put through by Martin Odegaard before cooly poking the ball beyond Martinez to take the roof off the stadium.
After a lengthy VAR check for offside, Leandro Trossard was awarded a third to increase the deficit, before Gabriel Jesus came on and scored with his first meaningful contribution to put the league leaders out of sight.
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Ollie Watkins’ stoppage-time effort was nothing more than a consolation for third-place Villa, who now sit six points adrift of Arsenal in the table.
Both Arteta and Unai Emery will be watching on with interest when Manchester City, who sit second, travel to the Stadium of Light on New Year’s Day, no doubt hoping Sunderland cause an upset against Pep Guardiola’s rampant side.
At various points throughout the match, chants of, ‘You’re just a s*** David Raya’, could be heard in the crowd, directed at former Arsenal ‘keeper Martinez in the Villa goal.
Martinez has proven to be a magnificent piece of business for Villa in his six years at the club. But it was a frustrating night for the World Cup-winning Argentine and he let emotions got the better of him as he made his way down the tunnel shortly after the final whistle.
‘You’re rattled! F*** off, f*** off, f*** off! He’s so rattled. Wakey wakey!’ an Arsenal fan could be heard barking at Martinez.
A visibly irate Martinez was seen turning around and giving it back to the group of supporters in question and had to be shepherded away before the altercation was able to escalate.
WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE
Martinez and the rest of Emery’s squad will be desperate to get back to winning ways when they return to action away to Nottingham Forest in three days’ time.
Facing the media after his side’s setback, Emery denied claims that he had snubbed Arteta at the full-time whistle.
Asked about the apparent snub, the Spaniard told reporters: ‘Yes, but it’s simple. You can watch. After [finishing] the match, always my routine is quick, shake hands and go with my coaches, with my players, or go to the dressing room.
‘And I was waiting, I was waiting. Of course, he was happy and he was with his coaches and I decided to go inside. But for me, no problem.’
Despite the result, the Villa boss said he was ‘so proud’ of his players for their application and togetherness across the season.
‘So, so proud of everything we are doing,’ he added.
‘So, so proud with the players, how we achieved, until now, 39 points, and how we are being ambitious and as well realistic.
‘We are realising every match we are playing, how we can exploit our potential and how we can get and set our target each match.
‘Today we lost. We did fantastic in the first half. The second half, we conceded one goal, we got injured with Amadou Onana and of course in the middle we had not the structure we needed to keep strongly in the middle.
‘But we competed fantastic, and we conceded the second goal and then it was more difficult. We didn’t give up.’
Arteta insisted the lack of a handshake with his fellow countryman was ‘not an issue’.
‘No, that’s okay,’ the Arsenal head coach said.
‘That’s part of the game, not an issue at all.’
Will Arsenal win the title this season?
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Yes
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No
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