Arsenal crashed to a second successive Premier League defeat as Ollie Watkins` early goal fired Aston Villa to a 1-0 win, while nine-man Newcastle held out to beat Southampton on Saturday. The Gunners fell behind after just 74 seconds at Villa Park and were unable to muster a convincing response. Arsenal have now lost 10 of their 23 games this season and their hopes of a top-four finish are receding fast as they remain in 10th, nine points adrift of the Champions League places. Villa, on the other hand, can dream of making the Champions League as they climbed up to eighth, five points off fourth-placed Liverpool with a game in hand to come. 

Dean Smith`s side took the lead with their earliest Premier League goal since 2014, aided by some woeful defending from the Gunners. Arsenal`s Cedric Soares gave the ball away and Bertrand Traore crossed to the unmarked Watkins, whose shot went in via a deflection off Rob Holding. "We have the quality to score goals in abundance and we showed that today," said Smith. "I was most pleased with the desire to see the game out at 1-0." The closest Mikel Arteta`s men came to a response was a stunning save from former Arsenal `keeper Emiliano Martinez to turn Granit Xhaka`s free-kick behind. "In the Premier League when you give a goal to the opponent -- and we gave them another three opportunities to be fair, just giving them to them -- and then you are not ruthless in the opponent`s box, you don`t win games," said a frustrated Arteta.