Football writer Alex Keble looks at how the form of Morgan Rogers can spearhead Aston Villa's title challenge as they chase leaders Arsenal and second-placed Manchester City.
A screamer from Morgan Rogers at London Stadium to secure a comeback win against West Ham United and all of a sudden the 2025/26 Premier League title battle has a new face.
Neither Aston Villa or Manchester City, who cruised to a win at Crystal Palace, were at their best on Sunday afternoon, but victories for both clubs have, following Arsenal’s win at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers yesterday, opened up a five-point gap between third-placed Villa and fourth-placed Chelsea.
There is still plenty of time for Chelsea and others to catch up, but certainly over the upcoming festive period, all eyes are now on the three sides accelerating ahead on the track.
The only real surprise is that Villa have kept pace.
Haaland, Saka… Rogers? Villa’s superstar will be key to any title challenge
It was perhaps the most sluggish five-goal Premier League match you’ll ever see, although it was shocked into life by Rogers’ magnificent winning goal, a strike that has extended Villa’s run to 10 wins from their last 11 Premier League matches.
Watch: Rogers' two goals v West Ham
Villa continually winning without hitting their peak could be a sign they are overperforming and will soon drop down – or it could mean they still have gears to move into. Rogers, for one, has only recently rediscovered the kind of magic we saw today.
Villa will need a lot more of that in the months ahead. Every Premier League title-winning team needs at least one player who can pull the rabbit out of the hat, who seizes the initiative and conjures something out of nothing when their team needs it the most.
At Selhurst Park, Erling Haaland’s superb header opened the scoring against the run of play, a "clutch moment" not dissimilar to Bukayo Saka’s perfect cross to set up the winner versus Wolves in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time on Saturday night.
It is too soon to put Rogers in the same category as Haaland or Saka. But games like today, when a brace turned a 2-1 deficit into a gritty 3-2 win, take him a step closer.
He is a superstar in the making; the one Villa will need if they are to pull off a minor miracle and go all the way.
Haaland’s double keeps the pressure on Arsenal – and the gap feels like nothing at all
On the face of it, nothing changed at the top this weekend. Arsenal and Man City both won. The gap between them remains two points.
But this was the first weekend since Arsenal’s lead was cut, and although at the time most pundits agreed that performances across the first 15 weeks meant Arsenal remained the clear favourites, something in the atmosphere might have shifted today.
Arsenal were dangerously close to drawing against Wolves. Man City, though under significant pressure in the first half, ultimately won by a comfortable scoreline and – crucially – kept their second Premier League clean sheet in a row to put the shaky 5-4 win at Fulham behind them.
City managed just four touches in the opposition box in the first half, only managing fewer in three Premier League matches under Pep Guardiola, but when Haaland ended a 25-pass move, there was a creeping sense of inevitability.
The fact they could be outplayed, then steam through regardless, felt somehow more ominous than a walkover.
Arsenal cannot afford to think like that, of course, but certainly these vastly experienced Man City players will remember this feeling – and might begin to believe they have Arsenal firmly in their sights.
Haaland’s double means he is now the joint-leading league goalscorer in Europe this season, level with Harry Kane on 17. He is also on 102 Premier League goals, just one shy of Cristiano Ronaldo (103) and two adrift of Didier Drogba (104).
His ridiculous season continues, and that alone might worry an Arsenal side who needed two own goals to fell the league’s bottom club on Saturday night.
Haaland certainly feels inevitable. Man City are starting to look that way too.
Chelsea have it all to do as three-horse race awaits over Christmas period
The emergence of a buffer between the top three and the rest is nicely timed for neutrals, because it gives a clear focus to the festive fixtures that begin next week.
Villa’s credentials will be decided in that time. We can be sure of that.
They host Manchester United next weekend before travelling to Stamford Bridge and Emirates Stadium. Those aren’t necessarily season-defining games, not for a club prioritising UEFA Champions League qualification, but win at least two out of three and, who knows, it could be a generation-defining period for the club.
Arsenal have Everton (a), Brighton and Hove Albion (h), Villa (h) and AFC Bournemouth (a), a run that looks a lot tougher following last night’s squeaky-bum time and the dreaded thought that, without the winner, it would have been nine points from six Premier League matches for Mikel Arteta’s side.
Man City will expect to win all of their games – West Ham (h), Nottingham Forest (a) and Sunderland (a) – before they host Chelsea in early January, a match that will also have enormous ramifications for Enzo Maresca’s side.
By then, City could be top of the Premier League, although Arsenal of course, could hold their ground, or even - who knows, with a sprinkling of Rogers magic - Villa could start the New Year at the summit.