It will almost seem a let-down to look at the Premier League table and see no new name in first place.
Saturday Chelsea, Sunday Manchester City, Monday Arsenal. Then what? Well, Arsenal again, basically. Arsenal until Saturday night at the earliest and probably beyond, considering their next game is at home to Fulham, whose last four games include a 4-1 defeat by Sunderland and a 6-0 shredding at Hull City.
Just two points separate the top three teams, yet while many still believe the current leaders may in the long term be crushed by the sheer power of the chasing pair, Arsenal are showing no sign of surrender just yet.
VIDEO Scroll down to see Arsene Wenger and Paul Lambert after the match
Delight: Jack Wilshere put Arsenal ahead in the first half with a well worked team goal
Making his mark: The midfielder swept home from the edge of the box
Finding the net: Wilshere scored his fifth goal of the season and his third in the Premier League
All smiles: Olivier Giroud and his Arsenal team-mates celebrate after he scored the second
Quick-fire: The Frenchman powered his strike home less than 60 seconds after Wilshere's opener
Well taken: Christian Benteke dives in at the far post for Aston Villa's goal
First goal for 14 hours: Benteke points to the heavens after getting on the scoresheet
MATCH FACTS
Aston Villa: Guzan 6, Vlaar 6, Baker 5, (Bacuna 21, 5) Clark 5; Lowton 5, El Ahmadi 5, (Weimann 73, 6) Westwood 5, Delph 6, Luna 5; Benteke 5, Agbonlahor 5.
Subs: Helenius, Albrighton, Steer, Sylla, Tonev.
Booked: El Ahmadi, Agbonlahor
Goal: Benteke 76
Arsenal: Szczesny 6, Sagna 6, Mertesacker 6, Koscielny 6, Monreal 6; (Gibbs 66, 6) Flamini 7, Wilshere 8; Gnabry 6, (Rosicky 69, 6) (Oxlade-Chamberlain 86) Ozil 6, Cazorla 7; Giroud 7.
Subs: Podolski, Fabianski, Jenkinson, Park.
Booked: Monreal, Wilshere
Goals: Wilshere 34, Giroud 35
Referee: Neil Swarbrick
Attendance: 36,097
Man-of-the-match: Jack Wilshere
*Player ratings from Neil Moxley at Villa Park
Click HERE for full results, fixtures and tables in the Premier League - plus your stats zone from the match
Subs: Helenius, Albrighton, Steer, Sylla, Tonev.
Booked: El Ahmadi, Agbonlahor
Goal: Benteke 76
Arsenal: Szczesny 6, Sagna 6, Mertesacker 6, Koscielny 6, Monreal 6; (Gibbs 66, 6) Flamini 7, Wilshere 8; Gnabry 6, (Rosicky 69, 6) (Oxlade-Chamberlain 86) Ozil 6, Cazorla 7; Giroud 7.
Subs: Podolski, Fabianski, Jenkinson, Park.
Booked: Monreal, Wilshere
Goals: Wilshere 34, Giroud 35
Referee: Neil Swarbrick
Attendance: 36,097
Man-of-the-match: Jack Wilshere
*Player ratings from Neil Moxley at Villa Park
Click HERE for full results, fixtures and tables in the Premier League - plus your stats zone from the match
At that point it would have been easy for Arsene Wenger’s team, caught cold, to give up two points. Instead, they regrouped and held firm — even when the stadium announcer elicited one of the biggest cheers of the night by revealing there would be six minutes of additional time.
Yes, it was a nerve-racking finale for the travelling fans — and their relief when referee Neil Swarbrick brought the game to a close was plain — but to go from operating at little more than walking pace to dealing with Benteke with his dander up is no simple task and, without doubt, there is a steel around this Arsenal team that hasn’t been present through many recent editions.
The day Arsene Wenger opted to swap his technically gifted captain Thomas Vermaelen for the altogether more earthbound style of Per Mertesacker was plainly a watershed. Would Arsenal have held out here a year ago? It could not have been guaranteed.
It was a strange game. Arsenal took Villa out in a matter of seconds, really, and after that seemed to play as if already dozing at the back of a nice warm team bus on its way down the M1. It was this composure that helped set up an unlikely grandstand finish, when Aston Villa rose from their stupor to score with 14 minutes left.
Benteke, so disappointing for much of the game, then came to life and suddenly the tumbleweed that had been blowing across Villa Park was replaced by throaty roars of encouragement.
Hurt: A Serge Gnabry shot hit Villa's Nathan Baker in the head and he was taken off with mild concussion
Caution: The medical staff were extremely worried for Baker as he lay on the turf
Get well soon: He was carried from the field in a stretcher as the whole crowd applauded
Wary: He wore an oxygen mask with the medical staff not wanting to take any chances
Last season, so much of what was good about this team came from Benteke, but he has looked lost for much of this campaign. He did not touch the ball inside the Arsenal penalty area once in the first half and was handled perfectly for much of the game by Mertesacker, save for an acrobatic effort shortly before his goal.
Time was, Arsenal were thought to need a player like Benteke to give them a title-winning edge. Is that still true? Yes and no. If Wenger could coax this late display from him, he could yet influence the Championship race.
If Arsenal bought the player that turned in Benteke’s opening 45 minutes they would be better off with the players available. Yes, even Nicklas Bendtner.
It was too easy for too long, really. Villa’s comeback flattered to deceive, giving the impression that they had been in the game all along when Arsenal had in fact kept them on the end of a steady jab. The damage was done in two first-half minutes when Arsenal scored twice, the second affording a cushion that did little for the entertainment value.
The goals followed a freak injury. Mild concussion was the official verdict, but it was not so much Nathan Baker who saw stars, as the entire Aston Villa defence.
Baker was the unfortunate who took a ferocious shot from Serge Gnabry full in the face after 14 minutes and was taken from the field, head immobilised, wearing an oxygen mask.
The team-mates he left behind took the force of the next blow, however, with two goals that stunned the locals into silence and left Villa with too steep a climb to the summit. It is rare that a player is invalided from a game by the ball and Arsenal’s initial reaction when Baker was struck and collapsed was to play on.
The build-up to Jack Wilshere's goal which broke the deadlock at Villa Park - click here to see our brilliant Match Zone service
Anger boiling over: Tempers flare between players from both sides
Dazed: Arsene Wenger has said that Tomas Rosicky may have suffered a broken nose
Fortunately,
referee Swarbrick realised this was no mere Sunday morning stinger and
stopped the play for him to receive treatment. He was down for seven
minutes as medics took the necessary precautions and when he was
considered safe enough to move, manager Paul Lambert took the
opportunity to revise his defensive three to a conventional four by
replacing him with midfielder Leandro Bacuna.
Villa had been struggling to contain Arsenal, who had enjoyed 78 per cent of possession until that point, and it seemed the sensible option.
Almost instantly the home team had their two best chances of the half. First, Fabian Delph crossed for Karim El Ahmadi, who steered his shot over, then Lowton sent Gabriel Agbonlahor clear, forcing a desperate tackle from Nacho Monreal.
Villa had been struggling to contain Arsenal, who had enjoyed 78 per cent of possession until that point, and it seemed the sensible option.
Almost instantly the home team had their two best chances of the half. First, Fabian Delph crossed for Karim El Ahmadi, who steered his shot over, then Lowton sent Gabriel Agbonlahor clear, forcing a desperate tackle from Nacho Monreal.
Painful: Nacho Monreal may have broken his metatarsal after this tackle from Ron Vlaar
Battle of the muscles: Giroud tussles with Villa defender Vlaar with the ball past both of them
Twist and turn: Fabian Delph wrong-foots Wilshere in the middle of the park
They are confident and purposeful and in a fleeting spell they as good as ended the contest. Mesut Ozil has been quieter of late after his buzzy start, but his pass for Monreal on the left was a thing of beauty and caught Villa hopelessly flat. Monreal crossed, man of the match Jack Wilshere met the ball on the edge of the area and his left-foot shot gave Brad Guzan no chance.
Villa’s fans were only beginning to adjust to this change in circumstances, when the ball was in the net again.
Wilshere was the architect this time, his deft chip picking out Olivier Giroud, who intelligently found the space between two Villa defenders and finished left-footed with a certainty that brooked no argument. It made up for an earlier miss when a cross from Bacary Sagna after five minutes was headed wide by Giroud from close range.
Can this striker end the season a champion? Many think not, but nights like this are steadily altering expectations of what Arsenal can achieve.
High boot? Ciaran Clark aggressively clears the ball away from Gnabry
Managers: Arsene Wenger looks serious on the sidelines as Paul Lambert can't believe his side's defending
Happy chaps: Lukas Podolski (right) and Park Chu-Young sit on the substitutes bench before the game
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