So much was expected before kick but as is usual with Arsenal these days it did not quite pan out that way at the start of the game.
Things were fairly even but Villa was getting forward more than expected, mainly because they were allowed to and Arsenal ended up paying the price in the 20th minute when Villa opened the scoring.
It was an avoidable goal if a defender would have picked up the run from John McGinn but of course, they did not and he simply diverted the cross from Anwar El Ghazi into the back of the net.
Arsenal then picked up the pace and started to dominate but Villa was always dangerous on the break and the more they broke the more confident they became.
Then disaster struck in the 38th minute when Ainsley Maitland-Niles picked up his second yellow card and was sent off.
It looked to me that Maitland-Niles got the ball first and was very unlucky to receive a second yellow but regardless, Arsenal were now down to ten men.
There were some handbags involving Sokratis but not much else to write home about as the first half came to a close with the visitors 1-0 up and if I am brutally honest, deservedly so.
The second half started with Chambers coming on for Saka and Xhaka giving away his customary free kick in a dangerous area, luckily nothing came of it,
The 60th minute saw a change in fortunes for Arsenal when Villa’s Bjorn Engels brought down Matteo Guendouzi in the penalty area and up stepped Nicolas Pepe for his first Arsenal goal.
But obviously it did not last long and within two minutes Villa had restored their lead through Wesley.
It was a decent goal with Jack Grealish going through the Arsenal players like a hot knife through butter before feeding Wesley to tap it in.
The game ebbed and flowed, Arsenal started to get on top, Luiz came close, Aubameyang missed a decent chance, Torreira came on for the hapless Xhaka and there were handbags involving Guendouzi.
The pressure was relentless from Arsenal and on the 80th minute came the equaliser through Chambers and it was fully deserved.
Matteo Guendouziws the creator with a nice cross to chambers who went past one defender before poking it home.
Then just a few minutes later cometh the hour cometh the man with a brilliantly taken free-kick from Aubameyang to put Arsenal 3-2 up.
VAR was on Arsenal’s side denying what looked a like penalty for Villa but the is life.
A win is a win as they say but the honest truth is this was not a great performance and the problems are just masked over for now.