Ollie Watkins talks up how Aston Villa took advantage of "tired" Arsenal

Arsenal went into the Premier League fixture looking to move back to the top of the standings and having had two days extra rest than Villa, who competed in the Europa Conference League on Thursday.

Mikel Arteta also selected his strongest lineup, rather than rest players ahead of the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

However, the Gunners were unable to make the breakthrough against the West Midlands outfit, who held firm in the first half before coming on strong after the break.

With six minutes remaining, substitute Leon Bailey coolly converted at the back post to put Villa ahead, before Watkins broke clear from the halfway line three minutes later and produced a deft finish into the far corner.

In doing so, Watkins scored his 19th Premier League goal of the season, equalling Christian Benteke's total in the 2012-13 campaign as the most ever by a Villa player in the division.

While the 28-year-old was quick to heap praise on his team, the England international felt that Villa's opponents contributed to their own downfall, showing signs of fatigue in the latter stages.

Speaking to Match Of The Day, Watkins said: «I felt like we grew into the game a lot. The longer Arsenal didn't create much, we could see from their body language that they were getting tired and definitely getting frustrated and I think we used that as momentum and motivation really.

»We grew into the game and we played some really good football. We didn't go long too much, the boss demanded that