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*Danny Welbeck opened his Arsenal account as three goals in four minutes helped the Gunners beat Aston Villa.*

Arsenal opened the scoring when Welbeck put Mesut Ozil through on goal and the German slotted home calmly.

Ozil repaid the favour by crossing for Welbeck to sidefoot in from close-range as the England striker scored for the first time in 16 club games.

Villa defender Aly Cissokho turned a Kieran Gibbs shot into his own net and the Midlands side failed to recover.

Arsenal were fortunate to escape with only a 2-0 defeat from Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League in midweek, while they had drawn three Premier League games before the trip to the Midlands.

They ended that stutter in form with devastating goal blitz in which two of their more criticised stars in Ozil and Welbeck did the damage as the Gunners made it 16 games at Villa Park without defeat.

Villa had been this season’s surprise package and a win would have moved them top of the Premier League, but they are now third with the Gunners moving up to fourth.

The defeat was the first in the league suffered by Villa this season as a combination of Arsenal’s first-half performance and a virus that had swept through their camp proved too much for them to handle.

Villa boss Paul Lambert had lost defender Nathan Baker and midfielder Ashley Westwood to the illness but said that, despite other players “not feeling the best”, his side would “go for it”.

The home side were initially true to his word as Gunners keeper Wojciech Szczesny had to palm a Fabian Delph shot around a post and then save a Ciaran Clark header at point-blank range.

But when Arsenal click into gear they are difficult to stop, which a stunned Villa found to their cost as they conceded three goals in quick succession.

Ozil put the Gunners in front when he ran onto a beautifully-weighted Welbeck pass before sliding a left-foot shot past keeper Brad Guzan.

The World Cup winner went from goalscorer to provider when he crossed for Welbeck to score with a first-time sidefoot from six yards, before a Gibbs shot was turned into his own net by Cissokho.

The pressure was on Welbeck before the game after he had missed glorious chances against both Manchester City and Dortmund but he helped relieve it the same venue where he scored twice for former club Manchester United in a 3-0 win last season.

Wenger had been forced to defend Ozil after some low key performances from the World Cup winner so far this season and the playmaker repaid his manager’s faith as Arsenal comfortably closed out the game after their goal burst.