Arsenal, Aston Villa and Bukayo Saka
31 August 2026
Bukayo Saka scored the only goal as Arsenal beat Aston Villa 1-0 at Villa Park, maintaining the defending champions’ winning start. Villa again failed to score despite Emiliano Buendia hitting the crossbar during a closely contested Premier League match.
Arsenal controlled much of the ball but struggled to break Villa’s organised defence until Eberechi Eze and Riccardo Calafiori combined before Saka finished near the hour mark. Arsenal then protected the lead to collect a second straight league victory.