Unai Emery explains why he did not shake Mikel Arteta's hand after Aston Villa's 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Arsenal

Arsenal v Aston Villa - Premier League

Unai Emery has explained why he did not shake Mikel Arteta's hand following Aston Villa's 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Arsenal on Tuesday night. Villa made the trip to the Emirates on an 11-game winning run following their 2-1 victory at Chelsea on Saturday evening as the Villans sought to go level with the Gunners at the top of the Premier League table, but ended up being blown away by the hosts.

Arsenal v Aston Villa - Premier League

Arsenal ease past Villa on Tuesday night

Both sides went in at the break level on Tuesday night as Arsenal dominated but were unable to find the breakthrough. However, Arsenal broke the Villans' resolve shortly after the restart as the returning Gabriel Magalhaes poked home Bukayo Saka's corner after Emiliano Martinez had fumbled the winger's high ball into the box.

Martin Zubimendi then doubled the Gunners' advantage as the north London side struck twice in the space of four second-half minutes. And the Gunners were three goals to the good with a little over 20 minutes to play through Leandro Trossard before Gabriel Jesus bagged his first league goal in almost a year as he came off the bench to net Arsenal's fourth.

Ollie Watkins added a late consolation for Villa, whose winning run abruptly ended in a resounding 4-1 loss at the Emirates. At the full-time whistle, Emery was seen rushing down the tunnel without shaking Arteta's hand, as is customary between managers at the end of matches.

FBL-ENG-PR-ARSENAL-ASTON VILLA

Emery address handshake 'snub'

Emery, though, has rejected claims that he snubbed Arteta after the full time whistle at the Emirates, explaining that his "routine is quick" as he rushed down the tunnel towards the away dressing room. When asked about the incident, the Villa boss explained: "Yes, but it's simple. You can watch. After [finishing] the match, always my routine is quick, shake hands and go with my coaches, with my players, or go to the dressing room.

"And I was waiting, I was waiting. Of course, he was happy and he was with his coaches and I decided to go inside. But for me, no problem."

Arteta was seen waiting by the touchline waiting for a handshake from Emery, but holds no ill feeling towards the Villa boss, as he stated after the game: "No, that's OK. That's part of the game, not an issue at all."

Villa 'competed fantastically', claims Emery

Villa had a couple of opportunities to go ahead in the first half but failed to convert their chances and were ultimately made to pay. When asked about what happened in the second half, Emery replied: "Football. We competed fantastically in the first half and we were getting our momentum, creating chances, corners. We were defending very well when we needed it. We didn't concede a corner in the first half.

"One or two chances they had, but we were against a [better] team in the league and how they're performing here and how they are with the supporters and with the crowd. Later we were feeling comfortable and in the second half we conceded the first goal.

"We conceded the second goal, maybe as well it didn't help us that [Amadou] Onana got injured because he's important for us in pieces and in the middle.

"And then we didn't give up and we continued trying to compete like we are doing. We conceded another two goals and then even for me we were not giving up and we scored one goal and we had another chance and we finished the match."

Arsenal re-open five-point lead

Villa are next in action on Saturday when they welcome Nottingham Forest to Villa Park in a bid to quickly return to winning ways. Forest themselves fell to a 2-0 loss to Everton in midweek and have now lost their last three league matches.

Arsenal, meanwhile, are now five points clear of second-placed Manchester City following their resounding win over Villa. City do have a game in hand over the Gunners, however, and travel to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland on New Year's Day in a bid to close that gap to two points.