Analysis: Aston Villa creating more believers as winning streak continues

Arsenal, on Tuesday night, will be the latest to attempt derailing the express train which is Unai Emery’s team as they target a club record 12th consecutive win.

The Gunners, top of the table but still only three points above Villa, will head into the match as favourites, their case strengthened by the fact their visitors will be missing two key men in the shape of Boubacar Kamara and Matty Cash through suspension.

But then you would have said the same about Chelsea on Saturday evening and Villa, once again, refused to follow the popular narrative.

For nearly an hour at Stamford Bridge, things were panning out precisely as many had predicted. 

Villa, already on their longest winning streak as a top-flight club since 1914, were surely going to eventually drop points? A Chelsea team playing on home turf, desperate to cut into their own deficit to the top-three appeared likely opponents to halt them.

Joao Pedro duly put the dominant home side into the lead and while Villa were dogged, in truth they were barely second best. You could almost hear the collective crack of sceptical knuckles preparing to type “told you so” at the final whistle.

Then Emery made a triple substitution and in an instant transformed the game. Ollie Watkins scored twice and such was the swing in momentum by the finish Villa’s 2-1 margin of victory almost flattered Chelsea. Visiting supporters filed out into the London night singing about winning the league.  

Emery is still many more wins from accepting Villa have a chance and was right to point out that, even after Tuesday night at the Emirates, there will still be half a season to go. 

But when your team is equalling 128-year-old club records, you can’t have too many complaints about the hype.

Villa might not be talking like title contenders but they certainly are playing like it. 

This was their fifth win in six Premier League away matches, all five won after conceding the opening goal.

Logic suggests such powers of recovery can’t continue. But then logic would also suggest it isn’t possible to score just one goal in the first five league matches of the season and then go on to win 12 of the next 13.

In a sport increasingly obsessed with finding answers through statistics, sometimes it is better to forget the how and the why and focus on the numbers which actually matter.

Those say, whatever their style, this Villa team is a winning machine, the like of which has rarely been seen in the club’s 151-year history. Their current run of eight straight league wins is the best in the top-flight since 1910. It really might take something special to stop them.

They will become even more powerful if Watkins’ brilliant, match-defining cameo was the sign of a striker returning to top form.

On an individual level, this has been a rough season for the club’s all-time Premier League top scorer, hampered by a niggling knee injury and an apparent loss of confidence. 

Heading into Saturday night, Watkins had netted just three goals in 24 appearances and found himself out of the starting line-up, with Emery instead selecting Donyell Malen to lead the line.

Yet while the latter barely registered a touch of note, Watkins made an immediate impact after replacing him. Within five minutes, he had drawn Villa level, collecting Morgan Rogers’ clever pass and accepting the good fortune when his finish rebounded off onrushing goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, struck his knee and flew back into the net.

Chelsea’s defence, untroubled to that point, suddenly didn’t know how to cope with Villa’s attack. Watkins tested Sanchez again with a low drive after running on to Cash’s ball over the top before, in the 84th minute, winning the corner from which he rose to glance home Youri Tielemans’ delivery.

Just as encouraging for Emery will have been the performance of Jadon Sancho, another part of the match-defining triple change. The Manchester United loanee, a peripheral figure for much of the first half of his season at Villa, submitted his best showing for the club in the final half-hour here, showing a previously unseen conviction as he frequently drove at the home backline.

Sancho, returning to the club where he spent last season on loan, was involved in the move which saw Ian Maatsen draw a sharp save from Sanchez, while he twice tested the keeper himself in the final minutes as Villa threatened to make the margin of victory more emphatic.

With the introduction of Amadou Onana also ensuring the visitors took control of midfield, the success of Emery’s changes suggests for all of Chelsea’s big spending, it is actually Villa who have the stronger squad. Certainly, Enzo Maresca was unable to find the players on his bench to stem the tide once Villa had wrestled control in the final half-hour.

There might still be a long way to go, yet the 10-point cushion Villa now have over both the London club and Manchester United in their initial target for the season - the race for Champions League football - will take some clawing back between now and May.

Not that Villa, just at this moment, should worry too much about what is beneath them. The way they are going, the only way remains up.