Olivier Giroud's seventh Premier League goal of the campaign has handed Arsenal a 1-0 lead after 45 minutes of their clash against Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium this afternoon.
In the opening moments of the contest, midfielders Aaron Ramsey and Fabian Delph exchanged shots from distance, but neither was able to keep their efforts on target.
However, there was no such problem for Giroud in just the eighth minute. Mesut Ozil flicked a hopeful clearance from Per Mertesacker into the Frenchman's path and, despite to lose control of the ball, the Arsenal frontman was able to dig out a chipped effort that beat Brad Guzan.
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It was a goal that put the Gunners in the ascendancy and they went close to doubling their advantage 10 minutes later through centre-back Laurent Koscielny, but his looping header was cleared off the line by Villa full-back Alan Hutton.
Arsenal playmaker Santi Cazorla, who starred during the 2-0 win over Manchester City last time out, had been largely quiet up until this point, but he was next to go agonisingly close to scoring his side's second goal in the 26th minute.
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Having won possession ahead of Jores Okore, the Spaniard traded passes with Giroud, only to then see his low strike cannon to safety off the upright.
As the half wore on, Ozil had the ball in the net, but his celebrations were soon cut short by an offside decision, while Ramsey saw his strike from 20 yards out palmed away by Guzan.
For all of their dominance, the North Londoners almost headed into the break level when Carles Gil's cross from the right was met by Andreas Weimann at the near post, but the Austrian was unable to get the better of David Ospina in the home goal.
Liam Apicella
