Gabriel Jesus’s predatory instincts and a left-foot finish from Gabriel Martinelli earned Arsenal a 2-1 win over Aston Villa on Wednesday as the Gunners kept up their 100 per cent start to the Premier League season.

The Brazilian pair scored either side of the break to give Arsenal a deserved triumph as they dominated the match, advancing to a maximum 15 points from five matches.

Jesus opened the scoring in the 31st minute and Martinelli grabbed the 77th-minute winner, three minutes after Villa had equalised through substitute Douglas Luiz who scored directly from a corner.

Villa’s fourth defeat in five games added to the mounting pressure on manager Steven Gerrard.

Arsenal had several early chances before Granit Xhaka’s effort from a tight angle was fumbled by goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and snapped up by Jesus who scored from close range.

Martinez made up for the slip with a stunning save on the stroke of halftime from Martinelli’s rasping shot and soon after the break he denied a similar effort from home captain Martin Odegaard.

Villa’s attacking effort were negligible until Leon Bailey forced a corner with a 73rd-minute shot, allowing Luiz to whip it directly into the net from the set-piece.

The goal was checked as Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale tangled with Boubacar Kamara as the corner was taken and found himself stuck behind the Villa attacker and unable to deal with the in-swinging effort. VAR found no infringement to give Villa hope of a much-needed point as they flounder near the foot of the table.

But Arsenal wasted no time in restoring their advantage with a long ball down the left to set Martinelli on his way for the winner. He played the ball inside before Bukayo Saka whipped it back across the goal for Martinelli to finish with aplomb.

Arsenal take their unbeaten record to Old Trafford to meet Manchester United on Sunday while there is little breathing room for Gerrard and his beleaguered side who host champions Manchester City on Saturday.

Elsewhere, Erling Haaland continued the blistering start to his Manchester City career by scoring a hat-trick inside 38 minutes as the Premier League champions smashed promoted Nottingham Forest 6-0.

Haaland has scored a league record nine goals in five games since joining City from Borussia Dortmund and has back-to-back hat-tricks after netting three in Saturday’s win over Crystal Palace.

“Amazing, nothing more to say,” said the Norwegian.

“It was about keeping doing what we did in the second half against Palace, play, play, play - it was nice. It’s been good so far, I'm not complaining,” he said.

The 22-year-old put City ahead in the 12th minute, latching on to a cross from Phil Foden to hook it past Forest keeper Dean Henderson.

Henderson’s poor clearance then led to City’s second when Bernardo Silva collected the ball and launched a counter with a swift exchange of passes and Foden again provided the assist to Haaland who slotted home from close range.

Haaland completed his treble, leaping to power in a far-post header after defender John Stones had nodded a corner back across the face of goal.

Forest were unable to contain an excellent City who made it 4-0 shortly after the break with a fine Joao Cancelo drive from the edge of the box.

Julian Alvarez added two more for City, both powerful strikes, as Pep Guardiola's side made it four wins out of five games with 19 goals scored.

The Argentine’s first Premier League goal came after some clever play from Riyad Mahrez with Alvarez driving home from a tight angle.

Haaland was then substituted in the 69th minute although Forest could hardly be relieved to see Kevin De Bruyne replacing him.

The Belgian created City’s sixth, charging up field after a Forest free kick struck the wall and then finding Mahrez, whose shot was blocked before Alvarez pounced and blasted home.

Meanwhile, Fabio Carvalho scored eight minutes into stoppage time to give Liverpool a stunning 2-1 win over Newcastle United at Anfield.

Liverpool went a goal down in the first half when Newcastle’s record signing Alexander Isak latched on to a pass from Sean Longstaff and rifled it home in the 38th minute to score on his debut.

The 22-year-old looked to have doubled his tally early in the second half with a superb run and shot, but his effort was disallowed for offside.

That seemed to be the wake-up call Liverpool needed and they struck back in the 61st minute through Roberto Firmino, who coolly drove home Mohamed Salah’s cut-back to the relief of the home fans, some of whom had booed their side at halftime.

Isak's debut came to an end three minutes after the equaliser when he was replaced by Chris Wood, and the visitors struggled to get the ball up to him as Liverpool pressed forward relentlessly, peppering their goal with shots.

Newcastle defended stoically but Carvalho made the most of their failure to clear a corner, thumping his shot into the roof of the net to snatch a win that lifts Liverpool to fifth in the table on eight points, with Newcastle 11th on six points. (Pieced together from different stories by Reuters)

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