Goals: Bendtner 90' - Senderos 27' (og.)

Nicklas Bendtner ensured Arsenal's bad week had a relatively happy ending as his dramatic late goal earned a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa on Saturday.

Arsene Wenger's team were careering towards their first home defeat of the season, courtesy of Philippe Senderos's first-half own goal, when Bendtner pounced with virtually the last kick of the game.

It was enough to keep Arsenal top of the English Premier League by a single point from Manchester United, who won 3-0 at Fulham, and provided some welcome relief for Wenger, seven days after he saw Eduardo, his Croatian forward, suffer a broken leg at Birmingham.

The Gunners can now look forward to Tuesday's Champions League meeting with AC Milan in better heart, although the Italian club's scouts will not be quaking on the basis of this disjointed performance.

This fixture always had a treacherous appearance for Arsenal. Villa have been revitalised by the canny skills of Martin O'Neill and a squad brimming with young and largely home-grown talent.

Arsenal may have started brightly, with Theo Walcott seeing an early shot well saved by Scott Carson, but the leaders looked ill at ease when confronted by Villa's searing pace.

They were given a warning in the 13th minute when Gareth Barry played in Gabriel Agbonlahor, who promptly found himself one-on-one with Manuel Almunia.

The young forward was just taking aim when William Gallas, appearing from nowhere, whipped the ball from his toes.

But Arsenal did not learn. They persisted in pushing their defensive line high up the field and, after 28 minutes, they were duly punished. Agbonlahor sprung the offside trap and worked his way to the byline before pulling a cross back into the six-yard box.

It seemed simple enough for the Swiss to push the ball behind for a corner but he got his feet in a tangle and succeeded in simply diverting into his own net.

It was the nadir of a horrible half for Senderos, who had earlier skewed wide after Carson failed to clear Cesc Fabregas' corner, but he was not alone in struggling.

None of Arsenal's stellar talents sparkled and they could have fallen further behind in the 42nd minute when Shaun Maloney's 20-yarder was clawed onto the woodwork by Almunia.

That led to disgruntled mutterings sweeping around the Emirates Stadium and the discontent reached fever pitch in stoppage time when Fabregas spurned a glorious chance to equalise.

The Spaniard had time to pick his spot after being teed up by Emmanuel Adebayor, but could only slice over and wide.

The interval failed to spark a transformation in Arsenal. There was no shortage of effort, but Villa's defending - from Martin Laursen in particular - was impeccable and when the hosts did work an opening, they found Carson in obdurate mood.

The England goalkeeper saved smartly from Walcott moments after the re-start and again from Alexander Hleb's near-post effort in the 65th minute.

Villa then had a wonderful chance to make the points safe, with substitute Marlon Harewood seeing a low shot bravely parried by Almunia, and that moment proved crucial.

In the last of the three minutes of stoppage time, Gael Clichy's cross was nodded back across goal by Adebayor and Bendtner, on as a substitute, was on hand to slam the ball into the bottom corner.