Villa keeper admits Arsenal pain

Villa keeper Scott Carson has admitted Villa's players were so devastated after Arsenal's late comeback that they felt as if they'd lost 5-0.

Nicklas Bendtner equalised with just five seconds of time added on remaining to deny Villa a famous victory at the Emirates.

"We were gutted to concede with basically the last kick of the game, after being defensively solid for 90 minutes," said Carson.

"It was probably the best we've played for a few weeks and to get an ending like that was hard to take.

"We went into the dressing room as if we'd been beaten 5-0. It shows how far we've come that we're disappointed with a draw at Arsenal.

"Hopefully this can be a stepping stone for the last 10 games."

Carson hasn't had many saves to make during his season-long loan from Liverpool but was happy to be under the spotlight as he pulled off fine stops from Theo Walcott (twice) and Alexander Hleb.

"I had a few saves to make, but I said when I came here that I want to show what a good keeper I am," he said.

"To play well in a big game like that is what I'm here to do. It's my job.

"When I saved from Hleb at the end, I thought it was going to be our day.

"But you know they can create a goal from nowhere.

"Getting down to the last 10 or 15 minutes, we were really comfortable and we restricted them to very few chances."

Carson believes his job was made easier by the way Villa defended from the front in the match.

"We knew we'd have to be defensively solid and that meant every player playing his part," said the keeper.

"Big John Carew came back in the second half and worked hard in front of the back four. That summed us up."