Arsenal had to start putting together the sort of run that saw them be almost perfect in the second half of last season but two more dropped points, their eighth draw of the season, leaves them with a lot of ground to make up. There have been red cards to point to in the other games but this result was of their own making.

Mikel Arteta hinted that injuries to his Arsenal squad are close to ending their Premier League challenge following a crushing 2-2 draw against Aston Villa at the Emirates. Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz fired the home side into a 2-0 lead but Villa fought back through goals from Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins in eight second-half minutes to deal a potentially devastating blow to Arsenal’s title tilt.