What ’emotional’ Gerrard said after Villa setback

An ’emotional’ Steven Gerrard was involved in an exchange with BT Sport reporter Des Kelly after Arsenal returned to winning ways with a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa to move four points clear of Manchester United in the race for Champions League qualification.

Bukayo Saka scored the only goal of the game in the 30th minute with a shot from the edge of the area.

The Gunners, who also have a game in hand on United, saw a five-match winning run ended by Liverpool in midweek but they completely dominated the first half at Villa Park.

Villa improved in the second half and hit a post through Ollie Watkins but they were unable to prevent a second straight defeat. Their final chance came in the last minute of injury time when Pepe fouled Douglas Luiz, and Philippe Coutinho at last forced Bernd Leno into a save with a free-kick from the corner of the area.

It was Villa’s first shot on target – coming in the 96th minute – and BT Sport reporter Des Kelly put the unwanted statistic to Gerrard shortly after the final whistle