BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Arsenal battled past a stuffy Aston Villa 1-0 and maintained its winning start to the Premier League on Monday.
It was a hard-fought win for the reigning champion, for which Bukayo Saka’s 59th minute goal was decisive.
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Aston Villa's Matty Cash, left, and Arsenal's Eberechi Eze challenge for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Arsenal in Birmingham, England, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Morgan Harlow)
Arsenal's Bukayo Saka (7) celebrates with team mate Arsenal's Declan Rice after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Arsenal in Birmingham, England, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Morgan Harlow)
Aston Villa's Tammy Abraham speaks to Arsenal's goalkeeper David Raya during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Arsenal in Birmingham, England, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Morgan Harlow)
Arsenal's Declan Rice heads the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Arsenal in Birmingham, England, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Morgan Harlow)
Arsenal's Bukayo Saka (7) celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Arsenal in Birmingham, England, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)
The win kept Arsenal joint top of the table, one of four teams with six points from two games, and left Villa pointless and, more worryingly for coach Unai Emery, without a shot on target so far.
More than half of the players who started Villa’s Europa Cup win in May have since left the club and Emery faces a daunting rebuild.
Two of his new signings started against Arsenal, Nicolas Jackson taking the striker’s role and Zion Suzuki replacing goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Host Villa began busily with Emiliano Buendia cracking one long-range effort against the bar but Arsenal came into the game as the half wore on and ended the better of the two sides without really threatening Suzuki, who made history by becoming the first Japanese goalkeeper to play in the Premier League.
That pattern continued in the second half and the visitor thought it had a penalty with nine minutes gone when Ian Maatsen felled Saka.
The award was downgraded to a free kick after a video review but Saka was not to be stopped. With almost an hour gone, he bundled home from close range after neat interplay between Eberechi Eze and Riccardo Calafiori.
Neither side managed to dominate the match and clearcut chances were few.
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Aston Villa's Matty Cash, left, and Arsenal's Eberechi Eze challenge for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Arsenal in Birmingham, England, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Morgan Harlow)
Arsenal's Bukayo Saka (7) celebrates with team mate Arsenal's Declan Rice after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Arsenal in Birmingham, England, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Morgan Harlow)
Aston Villa's Tammy Abraham speaks to Arsenal's goalkeeper David Raya during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Arsenal in Birmingham, England, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Morgan Harlow)
Arsenal's Declan Rice heads the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Arsenal in Birmingham, England, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Morgan Harlow)
Arsenal's Bukayo Saka (7) celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Arsenal in Birmingham, England, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)
PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — Jurors in the Lindsay Clancy trial on Monday spent a third day deliberating without reaching a verdict on whether the former labor and delivery nurse is criminally responsible for killing her three children in 2023 — a case that has drawn attention to maternal mental health after childbirth.
The jurors began discussing the case Thursday in Plymouth County Superior Court after hearing testimony from more than 70 prosecution witnesses, including her then-husband, and 10 defense witnesses over five weeks.
The jury is slated to resume deliberations on Tuesday.
While Clancy doesn’t deny strangling her children, her lawyer said she did it because she had lost her grip on reality due to postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness that can follow childbirth. In the months before the killings, Clancy sought treatment for her worsening mental health, including a stay in a psychiatric hospital.
Prosecutors said Clancy knew what she was doing. They say she strangled the children because she was depressed and tired of living, and made a conscious choice to kill them before attempting suicide.
The jury could find her guilty of murder or the lesser crime of manslaughter, or it could acquit her if it finds that she wasn't in control of herself due to psychiatric problems. Clancy's sentence could be as severe as life in prison, or she could be released or remain confined in a mental health facility if acquitted.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.
All three children — Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy, ages 5, 3 and 8 months — were strangled with exercise bands in the basement of the family's home in coastal Duxbury, Massachusetts, before Clancy tried to kill herself while her husband was getting takeout and going to a pharmacy on Jan. 24, 2023.
Clancy, 36, who grew up in Wallingford, Connecticut, has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility. She did not testify during the trial, but jurors heard at length from medical professionals who treated her, as well as from friends and relatives she had told about her mental health problems.
Her defense lawyer, Kevin Reddington, said after jurors ended their deliberations Monday that he hopes the case will change how women with similar conditions are treated by the healthcare system.
“It strikes a chord with many, many people. It strikes a chord with, I think, obviously, women because it’s atrocious,” he said about how several of Clancy’s medical appointments were done virtually.
Jurors heard from medical experts called by prosecutors and the defense, who disagreed about her likely state of mind when she killed the children.
The killings happened less than three weeks after Clancy was discharged from a psychiatric hospital. She cut herself before jumping from a second-floor window after strangling the children. She remains paralyzed from the waist down.
Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.
Lindsay Clancy watches jury members as Judge William Sullivan polls them during her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Lindsay Clancy watches jury members as Judge William Sullivan polls them before they start deliberations during her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Lindsay Clancy watches jury members as Judge William Sullivan polls them before they start deliberations during her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Lindsay Clancy watches jurors as they enter the courtroom to start their second day of deliberations in her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026 in Plymouth Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Lindsay Clancy watches jurors enter the courtroom for their second day of deliberations as defense attorney Kevin Reddington sits to her right at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Friday, Aug. 28, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
