Football writer Alex Keble reflects on Arsenal's emphatic 4-1 victory over Aston Villa on Tuesday night and assesses what it means for the Premier League title race as we head into 2026.
As Gabriel Jesus stroked the ball into the far corner to make the score 4-0, finishing a sweeping move that summed up a widening gulf between Arsenal and Aston Villa, the energy inside Emirates Stadium was not hope, not belief, but entitlement.
Even at the peak of Arsenal’s previous two title challenges under Mikel Arteta, they never had a moment like this: a six-pointer won convincingly, a statement not of intent, but of arrival.
Arsenal thumped Villa with a swaggering and brutal second-half performance, erasing from memory an evenly-matched opening 45 minutes and leaving the visitors’ title ambitions significantly dimmed.
The gap for Villa is only six points, yet considering how ambitious the bid, how narrow the path had always looked, getting torn to shreds by the established team at the top could prove to be a knockout blow.
Arsenal, on the other hand, have perhaps never looked so strong under Arteta. They’ve had longer winning runs, they’ve had wider leads, but never have they stood so tall in such a crucial encounter.
It could – should – be a watershed moment in the title race. Arsenal now truly feel like they belong at the summit.
Arsenal’s second-half blitz reaffirms their status as favourites
It was a mistake from Emiliano Martinez, and a typical corner goal, that broke the deadlock after a tight first half in which Villa – slowing the game down, then speeding it up to counter-attack – looked the more mature side.
But it’s what followed the opener that really matters. Arsenal shimmered under the floodlights, steaming through the middle of the park to score the second goal within four minutes, from which point they took total control.
Here was confirmation, after a small wobble, that Arsenal remain title favourites, not least because – again, symbolised in this performance – so many key injured players are now back in the team.
A goal for Gabriel Magalhaes on his return from injury, Jesus scoring with his first touch, and Jurrien Timber assisting on his return all speak to the restoration of Arteta's strength in depth.
It is that depth, that ability to handle an injury crisis and then ramp back up when players return, that has put Arsenal at the top of the table at the halfway stage.
But what will keep them there is playing with their chests puffed out, and not just believing this is their time, but knowing it to be. Swatting Villa aside sends a message: Arsenal are not going to fall away this time.
Onana substitution changes the game as Arsenal race out of the blocks
And yet it could have been so different. In the opening 45 minutes, Ollie Watkins had several decent chances as Villa’s counter-attacks tore through a stretched Arsenal midfield overrun by the movement of Morgan Rogers, the passing ability of Youri Tielemans, and – crucially – the power of Amadou Onana.
Onana bossed the middle of the park, where Declan Rice’s absence was keenly felt in the first half. Arsenal looked light without their leading midfielder, allowing Onana to burst through the lines and set Villa away on the break.
Coupled with a disciplined low block from Villa (who sat in a 5-3-2, with Jadon Sancho dropping into the back five), it looked like the visitors would have won had they grabbed the opener.
But Onana went off at the break – and everything changed.
Suddenly, Villa looked brittle in the middle, allowing Arsenal to pinch the ball off them, win the second balls in the centre, and find space to shoot. The first three goals can all be attributed to Onana's second-half absence.
Gabriel’s opener from inside the six-yard box – the 17th goal the Gunners have scored from a corner in this calendar year – was executed from exactly where Onana would have wrestled his way to the ball.
For the second, which came after a high turnover, Sancho was tackled because Tielemans gave him the ball rather than pass it to the under-pressure substitute John McGinn (see below).
Given the game Onana was having, it’s hard to believe Tielemans would not have trusted his Belgium team-mate had he still been on the pitch.
The third and fourth goals were scored from positions one would expect Onana to be defending (shown by the two stars at the edge of the penalty area below).
But credit, too, to Arsenal for racing out of the blocks after the break.
Long balls forward defined the first two minutes of the half, pushing Villa back to create the whirlwind atmosphere preceding the goals, and Arsenal appeared to press higher following some passive defending in the first half.
Too often in the opening 45 minutes, Arsenal backed off, letting Ezri Konsa stand still on the ball for 10 to 15 seconds. There was none of that after the break, when the Gunners’ blitz turned the tactical pattern on its head.
Villa will struggle to find their way back – especially if Man City win on Thursday
Unai Emery will be pleased with large parts of this game and will know how easily things could have swung in Villa's direction. He will also know that a title challenge – something he always dismissed out of hand – is looking extremely unlikely.
To lose so heavily here reinforces the idea that Villa aren’t quite at that level, despite beating Arsenal at home earlier this month.
There is no shame in that. The first defeat after an 11-game winning streak in all competitions was always going to hurt, but Villa remain nine points clear of Chelsea in fifth and on course for a superb campaign. The Villa supporters singing in full voice in the final minutes, with their team trailing 4-0, showed they are well aware of that.
Nevertheless, if Manchester City beat Sunderland on Thursday, then a top two will begin to emerge, leaving Villa behind, while a win for Liverpool over Leeds United would bring Arne Slot’s team within four points of Emery's side.
Villa probably won’t be the story of the season, and they certainly weren’t the story of Tuesday night.
Arsenal, after four wins on the trot, have hit their stride. They are playing like champions - and they know it.