Arsenal 2 Aston Villa 1 - match report

Cazorla had given the Gunners a first-half lead with a low shot before Villa pulled level with a superb solo effort by Andreas Weimann in the 68th minute.

Villa were unable to hold for a draw, however, as Arsenal piled on the pressure and secured the points five minutes from time when Cazorla finished off a clever passing move.

Paul Lambert made two changes from the side which beat West Ham after captain Ron Vlaar was ruled out with a calf injury so Joe Bennett came into the starting line-up with Nathan Baker shifted to centre-back.

Gabby Agbonlahor came in for Jordan Bowery, who was named among the substitutes, with Shay Given and Darren Bent not considered fit enough for the bench while Stephen Ireland was once again omitted from the matchday squad for football reasons.

Predictably Arsenal dominated possession early on and Jack Wilshere tested the reflexes of Villa keeper Brad Guzan at the near post with a low drive.

Arsenal opened the scoring in the sixth minute when the tricky Cazorla jinked his way into the penalty area and found the bottom right-corner of the net after his initial shot had been blocked by Baker.

The goal sprung Villa into life and Charles N'Zogbia led a counter attack for minutes later and teed up Gabby Agbonlahor who saw his effort from the edge of the box parried by Wojciech Szczesny in the Arsenal goal.

Weimann found space to cross from a dangerous position shortly afterwards, however, Agbonlahor was unable to get a touch as he slid into the six-yard box.

A neat passing move from the home side saw Abou Diaby find Theo Walcott on the corner of the box in the 30th minute, but his curling effort went just over the top-left corner of the goal.

Wilshere posed the home side's greatest threat as he pulled the strings in midfield and the Villa defence did well to deny him a shooting opportunity as he twisted and turned inside the box just before half-time.

Cazorla continued to cause problem down the Villa right and his low angled shot moments after the break forced Guzan to make a smart diving save to push the ball past the post.

England midfielder Wilshere was instrumental in all of Arsenal's positive play after the break, however it was Villa who drew level in the 68th minute on the counter attack.

Villa cleared the ball forward after they defended a corner and Carl Jenkinson made a hash of things as he attempted to control which allowed N'Zogbia to head it into Weimann.

The Austria striker's rampaging run from the centre circle caught the Arsenal defence on the back foot and he made use of the space afforded to him to strike a low shot, which Szczesny misjudged, into the net from 25 yards.

Arsenal looked the most likely team to find a winner as they bombarded the Villa goal and Guzan tipped over Olivier Giroud's header from a Walcott corner on to the crossbar in the 80th minute.

Three minutes later Cazorla skimmed a ball across the face of goal but nobody in Arsenal shirt could get on the end of it and Villa cleared the danger.

But Arsenal's pressure eventually told in the 85th minute when Wilshere dinked a clever pass over Matthew Lowton for Nacho Monreal to chase and his low cutback picked out Cazorla who finished confidently past Guzan.

By Timothy Abraham