LONDON: Aston Villa are heading into the Christmas period like a runaway sleigh with 10 successive victories in all competitions and with the Premier League’s top spot in their sights.

The Midlands club’s 2-1 win over Manchester United, their seventh in a row in the league, left them three points behind leaders Arsenal and one behind Manchester City.

They have bagged 33 points out of the last 36 available, and in Unai Emery have a manager who knows how to deliver silverware.

Yet, according to the Premier League’s data analysts Opta, Villa have a 5.3% chance of winning the English title for the first time since 1981, with Arsenal on 68.7% and City on 24.7%.

But Villa’s relentless form makes them hard to ignore. Extend their winning streak to 12 straight matches and the doubters will be running out of arguments.

Villa, who have 36 points from 17 games despite not winning any of their first five, go to fourth-placed Chelsea on Saturday and stay in the capital to take on Arsenal three days later.

One of the major reasons for their recent success is the form of England midfielder Morgan Rogers, who failed to register a single goal involvement in his first seven matches in all competitions.

Now it is a different story: he has recorded 11 goal involvements in his past 15 appearances and the quality of his goals has been striking.

Rogers’ seven Premier League goals this season have come from just 2.86 expected goals — a metric used to determine how likely a player is to convert a chance.

Skeptics, however, will note Villa had two more points at this stage in the 2023-24 season before fading to fourth, and Arsenal and City boast far greater title-race experience. But both will see Villa as a genuine threat.

Chelsea, meanwhile, face a stern test against third-placed Villa, who sit seven points ahead of the fourth-placed London side in what could prove crucial for any lingering title ambitions.

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca acknowledged the challenge posed by Emery’s side.

“They are doing fantastic this season, last season, years ago with Unai,” Maresca told reporters on Wednesday. “It’s very clear what they do, the way they want to play. They are, in this moment, also full of confidence. That is very important in a football team.”

When City and Liverpool were struggling earlier in the season, Arsenal were taking an iron grip on top spot and looked overwhelming favourites to win their first title since 2004.

They still lead the way but the jitters are already in evidence and the fact they have been top of the Premier League four times at Christmas without going on to finish champions will be nagging at manager Mikel Arteta.

Arsenal host Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday before their showdown with Villa, and they finish their festive programme with an away trip to Bournemouth.

City, meanwhile, have rediscovered their swagger with seven straight wins in all competitions. Pep Guardiola’s men visit Nottingham Forest on Saturday, then Sunderland on New Year’s Day, before hosting Chelsea on January 4.

SLOT’S GOALS HEADACHE

Liverpool manager Arne Slot, meanwhile, is grappling with a striker crisis after Alexander Isak fractured his leg.

Mohamed Salah is with Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations, while Isak faces at least two months on the sidelines after fracturing his leg against Tottenham Hotspur.

Slot has steadied the ship at Anfield after a shocking run of six defeats in seven Premier League matches that left Liverpool’s title defence in tatters.

A run of three wins and two draws in five league games has lifted the reigning champions into fifth spot, but there will be concerns over where the goals are going to come from ahead of the visit of bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Isak’s absence will heap more pressure on the shoulders of top-scorer Hugo Ekitike. The summer signing has netted eight times in the Premier League — twice the tallies of Salah and Cody Gakpo.

“It is time for the players we do have available to do what they have done so many times and roll their sleeves up,” said Slot. “The players who are available need to give everything they have.”

Wolves fans, meanwhile, only want one Christmas present under their tree — a win.

They have not seen one in their first 17 games, and Wolves sit on two points — the worst start in English league history. Just surpassing the all-time low points total of Derby County (11) in the 2007-08 season is certainly not a given, and away trips to Liverpool and Manchester United over Christmas hardly look like providing any comfort.

Unusually there is only one top-flight game on Boxing Day this season, Manchester United’s home clash against Newcastle United, with the former’s captain Bruno Fernandes also facing a spell on the sidelines.

Fernandes has been a shining light and virtually ever-present during United’s recent lean years. But manager Ruben Amorim is going to have to plan for a period without his talisman after the Portugal midfielder pulled up with an apparent hamstring injury in United’s defeat at Villa Park.

While the prognosis is unclear, Amorim has already ruled Fernandes out of United’s clash against Newcastle at Old Trafford, among a list of absentees, with the Portuguese boss urging the rest of his squad to “step up” in the absence of his “impossible to replace” captain.

“It is impossible to replace Bruno but I said that this morning to the team,” Amorim told a pre-match press conference on Wednesday. “We need to take the good thing that a lot of people need to step up and understand we cannot rely on one player for everything.

“We have lost Bruno on set-pieces, Bryan [Mbeumo] and Amad [Diallo] on set-pieces, so this is massive for the team. But it is an opportunity for other players to step up and show the leadership that we need in the team.”

Mbeumo and Diallo are away at the Africa Cup of Nations for Cameroon and Ivory Coast, respectively.

Fixtures:

Friday: Manchester United v Newcastle United (2000 GMT).

Saturday (1500 GMT unless stated): Nottingham Forest v Manchester City (1230), Arsenal v Brighton & Hove Albion, Brentford v Bournemouth, Burnley v Everton, Liverpool v Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Ham United v Fulham, Chelsea v Aston Villa (1730).

Sunday: Sunderland v Leeds United (1400), Crystal Palace v Tottenham Hotspur (1630).

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2025