Quickfire strikes earn important 3-0 Premier League win for Gunners
Arsenal's Danny Welbeck, 2nd left, celebrates with Mesut Ozil after scoring against Villa during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Arsenal at Villa Park, Birmingham
Birmingham: Arsenal scored three goals in a four-minute span to beat Aston Villa 3-0 on Saturday and halt the hosts’ good start to the Premier League season.
Mesut Ozil answered critics by scoring the first goal in the 33rd minute and then setting up Danny Welbeck a minute later for the former Manchester United striker’s first goal for Arsenal.
The third came shortly afterward, when Kieran Gibbs’ low cross into the area was turned into the net by Villa defender Aly Cissokho as the hosts’ resistance collapsed.
Arsenal rested new signing Alexis Sanchez but still looked vastly improved from their midweek loss to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League and now has nine points from five games.
They still trail Villa by one point after handing Paul Lambert’s team their first loss of the season. Earlier, QPR narrowly avoided their fourth Premier League defeat of the season as a fine late equaliser from Croatia midfielder Niko Kranjcar rescued a 2-2 draw against Stoke on Saturday.
Harry Redknapp’s side have endured a difficult start on their return to the top-flight and they were in danger of another dispiriting loss after twice falling behind at Loftus Road.
Mame Biram Diouf opened the scoring for the visitors and, following Steven Caulker’s equaliser, it was Peter Crouch who restored Stoke’s lead against his former club.
But with just two minutes remaining, QPR’s late pressure was rewarded when former Tottenham midfielder Kranjcar scored his first goal since January.
Kranjcar’s equaliser left both QPR and Stoke with just one win each from their first five matches this season. QPR fans were quick to jeer Stoke boss Mark Hughes, who had a short and underwhelming spell in charge of the west London club.
But they were silenced when Hughes’ side took the lead in the 11th minute. With QPR’s defenders baffled by the nimble footwork of Victor Moses, the Nigerian winger looped a high cross to the far post.
Crouch rose highest, appearing to get away with climbing on the back of QPR’s Rio Ferdinand in the process, before nodding down for Diouf to alertly divert his header past Rob Green from close-range.On-loan Chelsea star Moses was tormenting the QPR defence with his pace and power and he created a glorious chance for Crouch, who should have scored but instead flashed his shot narrowly wide from the edge of the area.
The hosts lost midfielder Joey Barton to an injury before half-time, but they shrugged off that setback to equalise in the 42nd minute.
With Begovic failing to claim a corner, Caulker was unchecked as he jumped to head goalwards at the far post. Stoke still had a chance to get out of trouble but the calamitous defending continued as Crouch diverted it into his own net.
( Source : agencies )
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