Aston Villa 1 Arsenal 2

Just when Alex McLeish’s Aston Villa appears to have turned a corner they find themselves back where they started because of their apparent inability to defend one.

There is no hiding from the fact this was the claret and blues’ third straight home defeat and means they have only collected a solitary point against six of the top seven with Chelsea to come on New Year’s Eve.

But whereas McLeish’s side had allowed Manchester United and Liverpool to use Villa Park as a second home to claim maximum points, Arsenal well and truly had the welcome mat pulled from under their feet.

And most encouragingly their appears to have been a welcome shift in approach from McLeish which sends a signal to some of the sceptics who felt his Villa side were physically incapable of a display as positive as this one.

The fact that McLeish and his players left to warm applause at half-time and at the end of the 90 minutes indicates the philosophy and approach to this game gets the Holte End’s seal of approval, even when results are the only currency that football managers are really concerned with.

Certainly it was a welcome contrast to the boos at the final whistle against United – largely unjustified given Villa were playing the Premier League champions but understandable in light of the meek nature of the performance.

The truth be told, Villa were more than a match for a highly-talented Arsenal side which was bursting with flair players along with the Premier League’s most prolific striker in Robin van Persie. But what Villa only occasionally lacked in quality they more than made up for in workrate and application.

McLeish’s side maintained a high tempo for virtually the whole match and the ball zipped across the surface as they pressed Arsenal high up the pitch straight from kick-off.

The crowd responded to what was happening on the field of play and for the first time in a while the apathy and bitterness which had engulfed Villa Park recently, largely borne out of frustration, was lifted.

Robbed of a number of players through injury, McLeish’s line-up was adventurous as Marc Albrighton, Stephen Ireland and Charles N’Zogbia formed an attacking trio behind Gabby Agbonlahor as part of a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Ciaran Clark partnered Stiliyan Petrov in front of the back four who had Carlos Cuellar at the heart of defence in place of James Collins who was dropped to the bench

Villa set about their task with real purpose with N’Zogbia wreaking havoc early in the game as he twice set up Agbonlahor who saw a header saved from a short corner and a shot bounce over the crossbar. But Villa’s positive start was undone in the 17th minute when Clark needlessly pulled down Theo Walcott inside the penalty area after the Arsenal winger had managed to get past him. Referee Jonathan Moss immediately pointed to the spot and Van Persie emphatically dispatched the spot-kick past Brad Guzan to net his 16th of the season.

The claret and blues continued their attacking approach after the interval and were rewarded with an equaliser nine minutes into the second half. A long kick from Guzan was flicked on by Agbonlahor as he out-jumped Laurent Koscielny but Thomas Vermaelen’s weak header to Per Mertesacker allowed Albrighton to nip in and steal the ball

The winger drew Wojciech Szczesny off his line before he calmly applied a low finish through the keeper’s legs to score the Premier League’s 20,000th goal and bagged £20,000 for Acorns children’s hospice in the process.

It was Villa’s Achilles heel, though, which came back to haunt them again three minutes from full-time when Van Persie’s inswinging corner was met by substitute Yossi Benayoun who directed his header past Guzan. Nine of Villa’s 23 goals conceded this season have come from set-pieces.

There was still time for Alan Hutton to get himself sent off for a reckless tackle on Van Persie. His second caution came following a yellow card after an argument with the referee and Benayoun.

Ultimately Arsenal left with their 13-year unbeaten run at Villa Park intact. But only just and this display was a well and truly a step in the right direction for McLeish – nothing more though, especially with Stoke City’s giants waiting around the corner.