Our 3️⃣ points as Villa stun Arsenal and hand title advantage to Man City | OneFootball

The title race and the battle for Champions League qualification took a major twist today as Aston Villa stunned the Emirates with a pair of late goals sealing a 2-0 win over Arsenal.

Here is what we made of it.

Arsenal follow Liverpool and gift Manchester City the perfect weekend

Pep Guardiola would be wise to buy a lotto ticket tonight as he’s more than in luck right now after what can only be described as the perfect weekend for the Manchester City boss and his team.

The day kicked off with Liverpool suffering their first home league loss of the season (and just their third in total) before Arsenal lost their first league game of 2024 – Leon Bailey’s 84th minute strike also marked the first time the Gunners had been behind in that three-and-a-half month span.

With City swatting aside Luton like they did Villa and Crystal Palace in previous weeks, suddenly they are in the driving seat for a fourth consecutive title and a sixth in seven seasons, albeit many will point to the 115 charges still hanging over their heads.

It hasn’t felt as if Guardiola’s side have been anywhere near their best this season but their default still appears to better than the rest of the league, which is backed up by a somehow low-key 27-game unbeaten run.

Liverpool have greatly exceeded pre-season expectations but seem to have run out of steam at precisely the wrong time through a combination of injuries, form and overall lack of ruthlessness.

Arsenal appeared to have learnt their lessons from last season but today will bring about that familiar feeling that they stumble when the pressure reaches boiling point – Bayern Munich on Wednesday will be a further test of that.

There’s still time for another twist or turn but with six games to go, it feels inevitable the title will remain at the Etihad Stadium.

Emery proves to be the boogeyman once again for his old club

Villa’s win, like their season as a whole, was masterminded by Unai Emery in the tactics room and on the touchline.

The Spaniard is quickly proving to be his old side’s boogeyman, as this marks the third time he has beaten Arsenal since leaving the Emirates in late-2019 in just five games.

With Villarreal, he knocked out his former side at the quarter-final stage of the 2020/21 Europa League en route to lifting the trophy once again, defeating them at El Madrigal before grinding out a 0-0 draw in North London.

The only loss he has suffered against the Gunners (he has managed seven in total, two draws coming while with Sevilla) came in his first with Villa, losing late on in a 4-2 thriller in February last year.

Today, the roles were reversed as Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins sealed a late smash-and-grab victory, completing a league double over Arsenal in the process – just their third in the Premier League post-1992 era.

It might have been his best outing yet at Emirates, and it’ll certainly be a good evening as he heads up the M40 with another successful London trip in the books.

Villans step up to show off their Champions League credentials

Emery deserves all the plaudits but so do his players, who stepped up today to seal another statement victory as they chase Champions League football.

There has been plenty of harrowing losses this season for the Villans – notably on the opening day of the season to Newcastle (5-1), at home to Spurs (4-0) and somehow twice against Manchester United, but when they are on it, they are a match for anyone in the league.

As Arsenal got off to a strong start, one might have thought Villa would collapse like they have at times before, but instead they showed the spirit that brought wins at home to the Gunners and City and away to Spurs and Chelsea, holding firm and weathering the early storm.

This led to Mikel Arteta’s men struggling for true openings, with Emi Martínez’s stunning close-range stop from Leandro Trossard being the only real time they breached the Villa backline, which was superbly marshalled by Man of the Match Diego Carlos.

In midfield, Youri Tielemans and Nicolò Zaniolo stepped up in the absence of Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara, while John McGinn was his usual industrious self.

Ollie Watkins has been a standout across the league all season – no one has more goal involvements – and Leon Bailey might just be too good off the bench to start right now.

The win put Villa fourth and three points clear of Spurs, albeit Ange Postecoglou’s side have played one less game. With the co-efficient situation up in the air and no guarantee right now of a ‘top-five’, today could prove to be a pivotal result as they chase a place at Europe’s top table for the first time since 1982/83 (the year after they lifted the famous trophy).

With five league games left and one foot in the Europa Conference League semi-final, it’s shaping up to be a generational season for the Villans.