It wasn’t so long that Aston Villa were letting a 2-0 lead slip at home to Brentford and dropping points in the top-four race.
Fans were starting to fear the worst that Champions League football might not be delivered despite how well Unai Emery’s team have fought and performed this season.
But on Sunday, Aston Villa managed to produce one of their performances of the season when they rocked up to the Emirates and beat Arsenal 2-0.
Not only was it a deserved victory, but it brought back the belief that the team can now secure that fourth spot and it also dented Arsenal’s Premier League title chances.
The latter was the icing on the cake because this Emery team have now done the double over this title-chasing side.
Well, matters have gone from bad to worse for Mikel Arteta and his players because, on Wednesday night, they were knocked out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich.
Thierry Henry was asked about the weekend result and how his former side just can’t manage to play three high-profile games a week.
But the former striker also mentioned how Villa ‘brought Arsenal back down to earth’ by ending their winning run, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (17/04/24 at 7:20 pm).
To think that Emery, a man Arsenal sacked in 2019, could now dunk on Arsenal’s title chances, is something amazing to see.
Aston Villa deal Arsenal with Premier League title blow
“I don’t think what happened at the weekend could have happened, it did happen,” said Henry.
“I always say, you always ask me ‘how do I feel about the title? And how do I feel about the Champions League?’ I am always scared when we (Arsenal) have to play three games a week. Whatever competition it is. We always tend to drop one game or not perform in one.
“Porto, then Porto again at home and Aston Villa – It’s different. We went on a run for a very long time. We were brought back to earth playing against Villa.”
Aston Villa consistency
This is the chance to seize on this win, run with it and make life more comfortable heading into the final few weeks of the season.
It first starts with trying to progress in the Europa Conference League, with a very tricky trip to France to take on Lille in the second leg of our quarter-final tie.
And then it’s Premier League action on Sunday against Bournemouth.
As of this moment, Villa have a three-point lead over Tottenham. We play twice before they are next in action, and that’s the north London derby against Arsenal.
If we can manage to win those matches, then there will be a nine-point gap to Tottenham.
Yes, Spurs will have games in hand (three of them), but points on the board are points on the board!
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