LONDON — Aston Villa are breaking records, but the big question now is: Can they win the Premier League? After fighting back from a goal down to win 2-1 at Chelsea on Saturday, the answer from Unai Emery’s team has to be a resounding «Yes.»
As of now, Villa are on an eight-game winning streak in the Premier League leaving heavyweights Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United in their wake. Those clubs have 46 English league titles between them, but it is Villa that leaders Arsenal and Manchester City are beginning to worry about rather than the three under-performing giants.
At the start of the season, having beaten Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain to win the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States in the summer, Chelsea seemed the team most likely to gatecrash the title race.
But as the 2025-26 season approaches its halfway stage, Chelsea are facing a new year scrap with Liverpool and Manchester United for the consolation prize of fourth place and Champions League qualification while Villa contemplate a three-way title battle against Arsenal and Manchester City.
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And if there are still doubters out there who aren’t buying into Villa’s title credentials, a win in their next game will surely banish the sceptics once and for all because Emery’s side visit league leaders Arsenal on Tuesday knowing that a win will move them level on points with the Gunners.
Villa have won and drawn on their last two Premier League visits to the Emirates, and they beat Arsenal at home on Dec. 6, so Tuesday’s game is unquestionably one that they can win.
By beating Chelsea, Villa recorded an 11th straight win in all competitions for the first time since 1914, but if they get another victory against Mikel Arteta’s side it will equal the club’s best-ever league run of nine straight victories which was set between October and December of 1910.
Villa forward Ollie Watkins scored twice after entering the game as a second-half substitute to claim victory for his side. While the England international stopped short of declaring Villa as title challengers, he said that rivals are now «worried» about the Villans.
«I feel like teams are worried about us, even if we may not play the prettiest football at times,» Watkins told Sky Sports. «There’s a lot of talk about us and people asking if we can win the title, but it’s a long way away. We’re just focusing on the next game.»
The manner of the win at Chelsea is what has made the next game so big, however.
Villa were poor in a first half dominated by Chelsea and the home side should have built a match-winning lead, but they only took a 1-0 advantage in at the interval following João Pedro‘s goal from a Reece James corner.
Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea are full of attacking quality and play the game at a breathtaking pace, but too often, they are unable to calm a match down and play it out for a win.
Unsurprisingly, Chelsea have dropped 11 points from winning positions in home games so far this season and their inability to hold onto a lead is perhaps why Maresca alluded recently to needing more experienced players.
That is precisely what Villa possess with captain John McGinn, Youri Tielemans, Emi Martinez and Watkins. Their experience was crucial in Villa bouncing back from their difficult first half to turn the game around after the interval.
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«This is about mentality,» Emery told reporters. «We have mature players with quality and it was fantastic how we defended low in the first half when we were struggling.
«In the second half, we had momentum. We wanted to play that way in the first half and we didn’t do that, but in the second half, we added fresh legs with mentality and the players showed capacity and quality and the impact was fantastic.
«Being resilient and keeping our mentality after the first half was important, but we knew the second half would be different.»
The game turned on Emery’s tactical changes, though. Trailing 1-0 and having carried zero goal threat, the Villa coach replaced McGinn, Emiliano Buendía and Boubacar Kamara on 59 minutes with Amadou Onana, Jadon Sancho and Watkins and it delivered a virtually instant dividend.
Watkins equalised four minutes later when he finished off a pass from Morgan Rogers and Villa then gained control as Chelsea regressed. The extra energy from the subs and Villa’s greater experience overwhelmed the home side and Villa secured the win when the unmarked Watkins headed in a Tielemans corner on 84 minutes.
Villa could have won by more and their supporters chanted «We’re gonna win the league» as Emery’s players celebrated on the pitch after the final whistle. By contrast, Chelsea walked off the pitch to a low chorus of boos as their already flickering title hopes were extinguished.
«If you analyse the first hour of the game, you are not talking about experience,» coach Maresca said. «But after that, we struggled with that. The changes they did — Watkins, Onana and Sancho — improved them a little bit.»
Maresca was a master of understatement with that comment. Villa won because they were able to play a card that Chelsea don’t have — experience — and it is a problem that won’t go away for the Blues unless they change their recruitment policy.
But they can ponder on that as they battle it out for fourth while Villa push on in their attempt to win the title for the first time since 1981.
