Aston Villa 2, Arsenal 2: Bill Howell's Birmingham Mail verdict
REVENGE is a dish best served cold – but fewer strikes have been hotter than the 92nd-minute firecracker from Zat ‘Zico’ Knight that rescued a deserved point for Villa and brought the house down.
Villa were heading for only their second home defeat of the season when the Brummie defender – making his first league start since May – latched onto a loose ball in the Arsenal box.
Few would have guessed what was about to happen when Stiliyan Petrov’s long ball was flicked into the box by AshleyYoung only to break off Gareth Barry.
Knight took one touch and then thundered an unstoppable left-foot shot into the bottom corner.
Before then manager Martin O’Neill must have wondered if he had stepped under a ladder, onto a crack in the pavement or broken a mirror such was Villa’s dominance before half-time and late on following Barry’s penalty.
That spot-kick led to an angry confrontation between O’Neill and Arsene Wenger as the pressure got to both managers.
Looking for a first home win over the Gunners in a decade and first “double” in 15 years, which would have opened up a six-point cushion, O’Neill saw his side produce their most thrilling football of the season in an electrically-charged atmosphere during that initial 45-minute burst.
But three times the woodwork, and then an unbelievable goal-line clearance from Bacary Sagna, came to the Gunners’ rescue.
Then some sloppy defending from Nigel Reo-Coker allowed Denilson to sneak a breakaway opener before Abou Diaby seemingly put the game out of reach with a goal of sheer quality.
It is now just one win in nine Boxing Day fixtures for Villa who, nevertheless, stay fourth and keep Arsenal three points at bay.
O’Neill had warned his cock-a-hoop side – chasing four straight wins for the first time since November 2007 – that Wenger’s men would be out for “revenge” after last month’s thrilling victory at The Emirates.
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