Ollie Watkins' second-minute goal proved the winner as Aston Villa's 1-0 victory condemned Arsenal to a second league defeat in five days
Watkins made the most of some lax defending between Cedric Soares and Gabriel, which allowed Bertrand Traore to steal in before teeing up his team-mate for a close-range finish with only 74 seconds on the clock
Debutant Mat Ryan had by far the busier afternoon of the two goalkeepers, denying Traore before half-time and keeping out strong Watkins, John McGinn and Jack Grealish efforts after the break
Nicolas Pepe shot wide when played through in that second period in one of Arsenal's few clear-cut attacks and later pulled a smart save from Emiliano Martinez with a deflected strike
 But the 10th-placed Gunners' resurgence was dealt a further blow by the end scoreline, while Villa moved a point off sixth-placed Chelsea
Ryan could not have wished for a worse start to his debut than to pick the ball out of his own net with barely a minute on the clock, after Cedric's weak pass to Gabriel instead found an alert Traore, whose excellent pass for Watkins was turned home via a deflection for the opening goal
It took Arsenal 29 minutes to even consider replying in kind, when Granit Xhaka's free-kick was palmed behind by Martinez in their first shot on target of the afternoon
Instead of pushing for an equaliser, the Gunners lacked incision and Villa came by far the closest to scoring the game's second goal, with Traore given space to turn in the area by Cedric before Ryan denied him with an excellent reaction stop
Things got little better after half-time, with Arsenal again slow out of the blocks and denied a second by more impressive goalkeeping to deny long-range efforts from Watkins and McGinn
 That was, at least, interspersed with a rare moment of Gunners quality in attack as Pepe took Xhaka's pass on the turn and planted a shot wide from a good position
Arteta's introduction of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Martin Odegaard from the bench did spark Arsenal into life, with Tyrone Mings twice at his best to block the former at close-range
Arsenal's need to press forward in the latter stages gave Villa even more room to attack, and both Watkins and Grealish came close to doubling the lead in the final 10 minutes
But the one-goal advantage proved enough, with Villa looking a different side to the one soundly beaten by West Ham in midweek to move eighth, three points off the fifth-placed Hammers, who have played a game more
Two defeats in five days means Arsenal could end the weekend as low as 13th, and as many as eight points off a European spot
Aston Villa boss : "I said to them at the start that we had gone away from being a good team on Wednesday, and the values we'd had to be a good team had been about the workrate, the team ethic and being good team-mates
 We saw that in bundles today
"We started with a really good intensity, that set us up really well
 It had to be a good defensive performance at times, but their goalkeeper has made some really good saves as well
"Arsenal manager : "It was a really strong performance again today
 We completely dominated the game, we dominated every department and we should have won the game
"As you could see me I was really animated for a few decisions and one big decision, that I will not discuss here as well what happened
"Even owing more than a touch of fortune to his early opener, Watkins was exceptional in attack for Aston Villa, showing the best of his role as a modern striker by chasing down lost causes, moving into the flanks and providing a threat to Arsenal's defence all game
He only avoided adding to his tally thanks to the form of Ryan, registering three decent shots on target across the afternoon
But his performance owed a lot to his willingness to put in a shift, taking on more 'duels' than any of his team-mates, completing more sprints and finishing second in their running stakes, behind only John McGinn
Aston Villa's trip to Brighton, next Saturday, is live on  from 7
45pm; kick-off at 8pm
Arsenal are also on the box next weekend, with their home game against Leeds live on  from 4pm; kick-off at 4
30pm
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