Aston Villa is Big Surprise in Premier League This Season

Aston Villa started the Premier League season on a five-match winless run, with the team looking more like a potential relegation candidate than a title contender.

Coach Unai Emery described his players as “lazy”. Villa’s big names – including England internationals Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers – were showing no form. There were major concerns about the club’s inactivity in the summer transfer window.

So how does one explain Villa’s current situation heading into their final game in 2026?

With 11 consecutive wins in all competitions, Villa are on their best winning streak in over a century and are seen as legitimate contenders for the Premier League title.

Indeed, defeat first-placed Arsenal on Tuesday and Villa will be level on points with Arsenal at the top of the league at the halfway mark of the season. They and Manchester City are three points clear of the rest in 18 of 38 matches, while Liverpool sit seven points back in fourth place.

And Villa will not be afraid of Arsenal. After all, just three weeks ago Villa scored their last goal to beat the leaders 2-1 at home and continue their winning streak. Fifth-place Chelsea’s 2-1 comeback victory on Saturday continued thanks to Watkins’ two goals in the second half.

Much of the team’s success is attributed to Spanish coach Emery, whose masterful tactics, well-timed substitutions and belief in his players leave no task insurmountable.

Like at Stamford Bridge at the weekend when Villa were outplayed and left behind before Watkins came off the bench. Or when Villa came from behind twice at West Ham a fortnight ago and won 3-2. Or Villa losing 2-0 at Brighton on December 3 and then fighting back to win 4-3. A fortnight ago Villa suffered an early defeat at Leeds and recovered to win 2-1.

It means Villa will be looking to pick up a sixth win by traveling to the Emirates Stadium, where Arsenal have not lost in any competition this season and have 25 points from a possible 27 in the Premier League.

The match can be considered as a test of Arsenal’s championship identity as well as Villa’s.

“Not really,” former Arsenal manager Emery said on Saturday when asked if his team could stay in the title race.

Three days later, if Villa, who were last champions of England in 1981, get another win, no one will believe him.

Key matchups City, two points behind second-placed Arsenal, will not play until Thursday when Pep Guardiola’s side travel to Sunderland to extend their eight-game winning streak.

Liverpool have remained consistent, if not entirely convincing, and are looking to pick up a fifth straight win in their home game against Leeds, also on Thursday.

On Tuesday, fifth-place Chelsea will host Bournemouth, while sixth-place Manchester United will host last-place Wolverhampton.

Players to watch Dominic Calvert-Lewin has scored in each of his last six games for Leeds, the best goal-scoring form of his career, as he heads to Anfield to play Liverpool. The England hopeful still has a way to go to match Jamie Vardy’s Premier League record 11-game run, achieved during Leicester’s surprising title run in 2015.

Rayan Cherki has quickly established himself in English football after joining Manchester City from Lyon in the summer and became the player with the most assists in the Premier League with seven, scoring a goal before scoring the winner at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Out of play Arsenal have defensive problems in the match against Villa; Right-backs Jurrien Timber and Ben White, left-backs Riccardo Calafiori and centre-back Cristhian Camira missed the team’s 2-1 win against Brighton on Saturday. Midfielder Declan Rice had to play urgently in that match.

Mason Mount was hoping his injury problems were behind him after finally breaking into the Man United squad. However, Mount suffered an unspecified injury in Friday’s 1-0 win against Newcastle and is being assessed ahead of Wolves’ trip to Old Trafford.

Off the field, the January transfer window is about to open and Bournemouth forward Antoine Semenyo will be one of the important names of this period.

The Ghana international has been linked with many of the Premier League’s top teams but Manchester City appear best placed to sign him.

Sky Sports reported on Monday that City had entered talks with Bournemouth to sign Semenyo, whose release clause is £65 million ($87 million).

It means it could be the last game of Semenyo’s Chelsea journey for Bournemouth, where she has scored nine goals in the league this season.