Analysis: No escaping Aston Villa title talk after statement Arsenal win

It wasn’t just the manner of it, with Emi Buendia’s 95th minute, last-kick winner sparking wild scenes of celebration and memories to last 40,000 lifetimes.

More significant was the fact Villa were fully deserving of their victory. Had Buendia’s shot not hit the roof of the net but instead flown over the bar, Arsenal would have been much the happier with the 1-1 draw. Just like Villa’s position in the table, now just three points behind the leaders, the result was no fluke.

“They are, when you look at where they are,” replied Gunners boss Mikel Arteta, when asked post-match whether Villa were now rivals in the title race.

Two years to the week earlier, Pep Guardiola had sat in the same press room and said much the same after his Manchester City team had been downed by Emery’s Villa.

Back then, Guardiola could be reasonably confident a Villa team threatening the Premier League summit for the first time and every bit the surprise package would be unable to last the pace.

Now, neither he nor Arteta can be anywhere near so confident. 

There is nothing about this current Villa side which suggests they are going to leave the stage quietly. Since the start of March, no team has won more Premier League matches than Emery’s men.

The five-match winless start to the season now feels an aberration and the recovery from it the greatest success of Emery’s reign. Saturday was Villa’s ninth win in 10 Premier League matches and their 12th in 14 games in all competitions. They have won five straight in the top flight, seven in all competitions and nine in a row at home.

They are, in blunt terms, a winning machine yet the larger concern for their rivals is they are an experienced winning machine, packed with players who have no fear of the big occasion, several of whom are operating at or close to the peak of their powers.

Saturday’s goalscorers summed up Villa’s strength.

This has been the season Matty Cash, a player previously considered something of a weak link in the chain, became a vital cog in the machine.

His 36th minute opener was his third Premier League goal of the campaign, adding to those previously netted against Sunderland and Manchester City.

Even more impressive was a defensive performance which saw Eberechi Eze, so often a scourge when visiting Villa Park with Crystal Palace, taken off at half-time.

His replacement, Leandro Trossard, might have found the space to tap home the equaliser seven minutes into the second half but otherwise the visitors found it impossible to break down a Villa defence which ranks as the third most miserly in the league.

Buendia, meanwhile, is now the club’s joint-top scorer in the top flight after his fourth goal of the season delivered both the victory and one of the great Villa Park moments.

Truth be told, the previous fortnight had been the Argentina international’s toughest spell of an otherwise renaissance campaign. Early exits against both Leeds and Wolves had been followed by only the briefest substitute cameo in last Wednesday’s 4-3 win at Brighton.

On Saturday he only needed seven minutes on the pitch to make the difference. 

When Morgan Rogers crossed from the right and Youri Tielemans had been denied by David Raya at point-blank range, Buendia was quickest to react. Off-balance and falling to the floor after seeing his initial effort blocked, he managed to push the ball toward Boubacar Kamara and by the time the latter had fought off two defenders, was back on his feet to receive the return pass. You’ve seen the rest.

Amid the carnage, with Emery and his coaching staff leaping as one into the air and onto the pitch, the contribution of Jadon Sancho, nodding Rogers’ cross back into the danger zone, should not go unnoticed.

This was the Manchester United loanee’s liveliest cameo to date, while the presence of Lamare Bogarde and Victor Lindelof on the pitch gave further evidence of Emery’s growing resources.

“The best stoppage time winner at Villa Park since Trezeguet,” was how one of Villa’s longest-serving players later described it to reporters, referencing the Egypt international’s goal against Leicester which sent the club to the Carabao Cup final and Wembley nearly six years ago.

It may take several months to determine what Buendia’s goal means in the season’s big picture.

The next few weeks will tell us even more about Villa and their title credentials, with matches against Manchester United and Chelsea to come ahead of the return fixture with Arsenal at the Emirates before 2025 is out.

Just as important is next Sunday’s trip to relegation-threatened West Ham. 

The kind of fixture from which a team chasing Champions League football could stomach a point, for true title contenders only a win will do.  

That should hold no fear for Villa. These days, winning is all they ever seem to do.