Thomas Partey headed in a corner to give the Gunners' a 23rd minute lead and they doubled their advantage before the break with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang driving home after his penalty was saved by Villa's former Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.

Emile Smith Rowe made it 3-0 in the 56th, finishing a well worked counter-attack by cutting in from the left and seeing his low shot go in off the post after a slight deflection off Tyrone Mings.

Arteta praised academy graduate Smith Rowe, who has two goals and two assists this season, for changing his lifestyle and improving his game in a man-of-the-match performance.

"When you want to take the game to the next level, when you become a real important player in such a big club, that should be the only priority and every detail is important and relevant," said Arteta.

"Credit to him and obviously the staff here that are all the time monitoring and build that education with him and he'll only get better."

Arsenal moved level with sixth-placed Manchester United with the win, albeit having played a game more, and Arteta hailed a performance close to what he wants to see from his side more regularly after their draw with Crystal Palace.

"What I liked the most is the way the team reacted on Monday evening, how we finished the game and how they were in the dressing room," he added.

"Accepting that it wasn't good enough, that we played to a really good level in some parts, but to a level that is not acceptable in others. We are the youngest team in the league, but that is not an excuse.

"We cannot change the age, so we cannot find these kind of excuses. We have to find why those things happen in the game, find the right solutions and then put them right and believe they can play at that level, because they can."

Villa had been second best for most of the game but pulled a goal back eight minutes from the end when Jacob Ramsey curled the ball into the top corner after Leon Bailey had burst across the front of the penalty area.

Villa boss Dean Smith was unhappy with the penalty awarded to Arsenal on the stroke of half-time as referee Craig Pawson consulted his pitchside monitor before pointing to the spot, adjudging Matt Targett had fouled Alexandre Lacazette.

"I saw it in real-time and my first instinct was it looked a penalty, I must admit that," he said.

"When I see the same thing he sees (on the monitor) to me it is too frivolous, we are looking really closely to see if he touches the ball first, it is what we spoke about in the summer, about those kinds of decisions not going to VAR and staying with the referee."

Australian Associated Press