SAK OF THE NET! Arsenal maintain perfect start to new season as Saka strike beats Aston Villa on Arteta's 250th Premier League game in charge of Gunners

Arsenal remained perfect with a 1-0 win at Aston Villa on Mikel Arteta's 250th game in charge as Bukayo Saka came up trumps.

The champions were electric in their Premier League opener ten days ago, but had to dig in to down former manager Unai Emery as Saka eventually scored the game's only goal in the second-half.

Only Manchester City's goals scored column has kept them above the Gunners with the pair two of four teams to take six points from their opening two games.

Emi Buendia, scorer of the winner in this fixture last year, hit the bar early on when his shot from distance beat David Raya, but not the woodwork. That was one of the rare opportunities in a first-half that was lacking in goal mouth action.

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Arsenal saw a penalty appeal waved away just before the hour mark as VAR ruled that the initial contact on Saka began outside the box. That presented Martin Odegaard with a dead ball situation 20 yards out, and whilst his effort beat the wall it was narrowly wide of the mark.

Saka would have his moment shortly after though when Riccardo Calafiori and Eberechi Eze combined down the left before the Italian squared the ball for the Arsenal No 7 to tap home.

Kai Havertz had a golden chance to double the visitor's lead when he was sent clear, but Zion Suzuki produced a huge save on debut.

Here's five talking points from Villa Park.

At a ground where they've lost in two of the past three seasons Arsenal showed they were more than up for the fight. Villa Park has become one of the toughest grounds to win at in England - last term Emery's side beat all of the top eight on their own patch.

But Arsenal left the Midlands with all three points with a hugely professional display, which will ultimately go nowhere near being their prettiest performance of the season. It was built on their usual solid foundation and, in a game that lacked chances, Arsenal were on hand to take theirs when it came to remain perfect and keep pace with those at the top.

The goalscorer's battle with Villa full-back Ian Maatsen was one of the major subplots of the evening - and the aggression in Saka's celebration in front of the Arsenal fans was one of a player who knew he'd finally got one over on his opponent.

Maatsen did well to contain Saka as often as he did. On one of the occasions he found himself on the wrong side of the Arsenal winger a slight push resulted in a free-kick, despite appeals for a penalty. Saka, clearly still feeling aggrieved, righted that wrong minutes later when he nipped in, no more than half a yard, ahead of the Villa defender to score the game's crucial goal.

Given they'd been hammered by Brighton eight days ago, even though they were at home, welcoming the champions to town is never the ideal assignment. Villa though dug in and showed there's plenty of fight left in them, even if they did come up short on Monday night.

There were lacking in the final third, which is perhaps naturally given their new No 9 and the exodus of those who were so pivotal in attack. That is also reflected in the fact they're the only team in the top flight yet to have a shot on target this season, which is damning. But Emery has remained defiant, especially over the last week, and will believe with this group he can still extract enough to keep the critics at bay.

If there's one thing a top club needs it is an elite goalkeeper and a top striker. For years Villa have had those in Emi Martinez, their World Cup winner, and England international Ollie Watkins - but both men decided this summer was time for pastures new.

They are major exits and in key positions - and the two men who've come in will need to get at least close to the level of their predecessors. Suzuki didn't enjoy the best start when he flapped at a corner, fortunately for him he wasn't punished, but did produce a huge save to deny Havertz in the second-half Jackson meanwhile will no doubt have a chip on his shoulder given the manner of his Chelsea exit, but was stifled by the Arsenal backline.

The numbers behind Arteta celebrating his quarter of a century are certainly impressive. Despite a slow start to life at the Emirates, Arsenal have become one of the Premier League's major forces over the past four seasons, and that is reflected in the numbers.

Pre-match Arteta played down the significance of his landmark, insisting he only wanted the win to remember the occasion. He got that and his numbers put him ahead of Arsenal icon Arsene Wenger - and only one win shy of Sir Alex Ferguson across the same time frame. As thing stand, those figures only look set to improve.

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