Summary

  • Aston Villa beat Arsenal through vital Trezeguet strike

  • Villa out of bottom three for first time since February

  • Villa above 18th-placed Watford on goal difference with one game left

  • Watford into bottom three after 4-0 thrashing by Man City

  • Sterling scores twice, Foden & Laporte also on target

  • Villa, Watford & Bournemouth will fight for survival on final day

  1. SUBSTITUTIONpublished at 21:19 British Summer Time 21 July 2020

    Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal

    Granit Xhaka replaces Lucas Torreira in our only half-time sub.

  2. Postpublished at 21:17 British Summer Time 21 July 2020

    Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal

    This is the 13th time Arsenal are trailing at half-time in the Premier League this season. They won only two of the previous 12 occasions, including 3-2 at home against Villa on 22 September.

  3. Postpublished at 21:16 British Summer Time 21 July 2020

    I think Yossi Hurst is going to get his wish - looks like Granit Xhaka is coming on at the interval.

  4. Sunday's key matchespublished at 21:10 British Summer Time 21 July 2020

    Villa could still need to win on Sunday as well of course. Or they could lose and stay up. The beauty of the last day of the season. If it stays like this West Ham could still go down, by the way. Though they do play Manchester United tomorrow.

    Sunday's games all kick off at 16:00 BST and the three big ones at the bottom will be:

    Arsenal v Watford

    Everton v Bournemouth

    West Ham v Aston Villa

  5. As it standspublished at 21:06 British Summer Time 21 July 2020

    Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal

    A reminder of what that Trezeguet goal has done to the as it stands table.

    If Villa can see this out they would go into the final day of the season on Sunday above the drop zone.

    TableImage source, BBC Sport
  6. get involved

    Get Involvedpublished at 21:04 British Summer Time 21 July 2020

    #bbcfootball or text us on 81111 (UK Only)

    A tweet I never thought I would read:

    Yossi Hurst: Arsenal are an absolute mess without Xhaka

  7. HALF-TIMEpublished at 21:03 British Summer Time 21 July 2020

    Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal

    Halfway to a huge result for Aston Villa.

  8. CLOSE!published at 44 mins

    Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal

    Well that really would have been a famous Aston Villa goal! They break up an Arsenal attack and counter at pace, three on three. It gets shifted out to captain Jack Grealish on the left, he jinks inside and hits it Cristiano Ronaldo style, the knuckleball, and it flies just wide of the far corner.

    Superb try.

  9. Postpublished at 42 mins

    Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal

    Trezeguet again - he's got a nice knack of finding space in a crowd scene. A corner is cleared out, it comes back in again and he's there to head straight at Emiliano Martinez. He could only just reach the ball, it was asking a lot for him to do much more there.

  10. 'We must remain confident'published at 20:57 British Summer Time 21 July 2020

    Watford 0-4 Man City

    Watford

    Watford caretaker boss Hayden Mullin, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live: "It was always going to be a tough ask, we knew that. They are a great side with a great manager. They were hurt after their result at the weekend - the Arsenal game - so we knew it would be tough. We set up a certain way and I thought we did well right up until the first goal. The second goal was a bit unfortunate. Will Hughes maybe gets a foot on it for the penalty, but those decisions don't really go for you when you are at the wrong end of the table.

    "City do this to most teams. The minute you come out and give space they take advantage of it. It didn't work today for us so we look to go again."

    On his side's position in the league: "It is a tough league. There are no guarantees. One season to another it is totally different. All I know is that we need to go to Arsenal now and get a positive result. I have to be confident in the dressing room. I have to be confident in the boys. We have to go looking for a positive result. Tomorrow we will look at the performance more, put it to bed and start looking at the next game. We spoke about staying together and doing the right things. When you get to this stage of the season it is tough but we will deal with it the way we know how - stay confident and prepare as best we can for Sunday."

  11. Postpublished at 40 mins

    Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal

    Good move, down the right this time, sees Villa win another corner. Rob Holding defends the near post better this time.

  12. get involved

    Get Involvedpublished at 20:54 British Summer Time 21 July 2020

    #bbcfootball or text us on 81111 (UK Only)

    It's crazy to think that goal difference could potentially have such a big part to play in both who gets top 4 and who goes down. The title might have been decided before we came out of lockdown but the final gameweek is going to have so much still to play for.

    Dean

  13. Postpublished at 37 mins

    Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal

    That goal is the sole effort on target of the game so far. Arsenal are on the edges of the game, plenty of ball in midfield but not much in any areas of danger.

  14. YELLOW CARDpublished at 35 mins

    Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal

    Villa have a bit more spring in their step now, Lucas Torreira is slow to the ball and can only foul Conor Hourihane, into the book he goes.

  15. Postpublished at 33 mins

    Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal

    Dean Smith was the epitome of collected as that ball hit the net. Not a flicker from the Villa boss, Surely inside his organs were doing cartwheels.

    They will be now as Alexandre Lacazette takes a tumble in the penalty area...

    Nothing given.

  16. Postpublished at 31 mins

    Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal

    A long way to go, of course. A long way.

    Mbwana Samatta is down and needs treatment but he's OK to carry on before Jack Grealish goes down in typical fashion and wins a free-kick. Load the back post up...

  17. Postpublished at 20:45 British Summer Time 21 July 2020

    Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal

    Drink it in, Villa fans.

    TableImage source, BBC Sport
  18. goal

    GOAL - Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenalpublished at 20:42 British Summer Time 21 July 2020

    Trezeguet (27 mins)

    Trezeguet scoresImage source, Reuters

    Massive! It's a massive goal for Aston Villa, and potentially for Bournemouth and for Watford too.

    From the corner, whipped in by Conor Hourihane, Tyrone Mings gets a touch and the ball runs out to Trezeguet in space inside the area. It's not the easiest ball to hit but he connects beautifully with it, swerving a shot away from the excellent Emi Martinez and into the bottom corner.

    Seismic goal.

  19. Postpublished at 26 mins

    Aston Villa 0-0 Arsenal

    Better from Villa, more urgency as these drinks breaks seem to bring often. John McGinn gets into the area and battles a corner.

  20. SUBSTITUTIONpublished at 25 mins

    Aston Villa 0-0 Arsenal

    Drinks are taken. It's got the tempo of a Test match.

    Frederic Guilbert does now finally replace Ahmed Elmohamady.