Aston Villa 2-2 Arsenal: Arsene Wenger and Martin O'Neill in pitch-side clash

Arsene Wenger and Martin O'Neill had to be separated by the fourth official as the tear-up for fourth place turned nasty at Villa Park.

Zat Knight grabbed an injury-time leveller for Villa to add to Wenger's anger.

And O'Neill dismissed his row with Wenger as "in the heat of the moment".

The Arsenal manager had earlier erupted in fury when WIlliam Gallas was deemed to have hauled down Gabriel Agbonlahor for the penalty smashed home by Gareth Barry to begin Villa's deserved comeback.

As O'Neill responded angrily to Wenger's accusations, referee Lee Mason was summoned by fourth official Stuart Attwell to stop the flare-up getting out of hand.

Atetchy Wenger afterwards described the bust-up as "nothing", adding: "In the second half we were never in trouble, yet we conceded two goals. We were 99 per cent there."

O'Neill also played down the incident involving Wenger and the Villa boss wanted instead to focus on his side's performance.

"We set out to try to win the game. We were vibrant, full of energy and showed great ability. We were knocked back so, getting something from the game was not bad."

Villa had hit the woodwork three times in the first 38 minutes before the Gunners stormed into a two-goal lead through Denilson and Abou Diaby.