Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta remains confident that his team will recover from their dramatic 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa

Arsenal suffered a setback as they fell to a 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa on Saturday, ending their 18-match unbeaten run in all competitions. Emiliano Buendia’s late winner for Villa has thrown the title race wide open, with Villa moving to within three points of Arsenal and Manchester City closing the gap to two points.

Villa had taken the lead through Matty Cash’s first-half opener, only for Leandro Trossard to equalize in the second half. However, the Gunners were unable to hold on to the draw and Buendia’s late strike handed Villa the victory.

The defeat marks Arsenal’s first loss since August and only their second in the entire campaign. The north Londoners have a history of collapsing after establishing strong leads in the title battle, finishing as runners-up for the last three seasons, and last winning the championship in 2004.

Mikel Arteta remains confident that his team will bounce back from the defeat. “That is the league, you go to Old Trafford, you go to St James’ Park, you go to Chelsea, you come here, we have been in a lot of difficult grounds,” he said.

Arteta added that the result could have been different, but the reality is that Arsenal have been in tough situations before and have always come out on top. “The result could have been different, the reality is not. We went 18 games unbeaten, and still we are there, close to each other,” he said.

The Arsenal boss is convinced that his team will learn from the defeat and come back stronger. “Now it is time to bounce back; they have given me all the right reasons to think we are going to perform at the same level. We move on. We will learn from today, and it will make us a better team,” Arteta said.