Richard Keys drops Aston Villa title prediction after what he saw vs Chelsea
Richard Keys couldn’t be more impressed with how Aston Villa are performing under Unai Emery.
Villa’s 2-1 win over Chelsea on Saturday keeps them within three points of league leaders Arsenal, who they play next on Tuesday.
Arsenal and Man City both won earlier in the day, and Aston Villa showed nerves of steel to get over the line at Stamford Bridge.
Ollie Watkins looks back to his best, while Morgan Rogers is in unstoppable form as the winning run has now stretched to 11 games in all competitions.
Every Villa fan is dreaming of the improbable possibility of winning the Premier League, although Keys believes Emery’s side will fall short as the season progresses.
Richard Keys predicts Villa to fade away in Premier League title race
Villa have an outside chance of winning the title, but they are currently the most in-form team in Europe’s top five leagues.
However, on 29 December, Keys said on his blog that he doesn’t feel the Villans have enough to win the title.
He said: “What a run Villa are on. What an irony it would be if Emery doesn’t just stop Arsenal from winning the title, but nicks it off them.
“Right now, Villa are in the race, but I think they’ll come up short, only because they don’t have the depth.”
Both Matty Cash and Boubacar Kamara are suspended for the Arsenal match, and injuries to Pau Torres and Tyrone Mings have left Villa lacking in defensive positions.
Squad depth is a huge reason why teams go on to be successful, and it’s clear that Emery’s side are struggling with different options at the moment.
However, that won’t quieten any optimism that Villa could win the title, and the supporters have every right to believe that this could be their year.
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The stats that show why Aston Villa could go the distance in the title race
Emery has stressed that there is no point in discussing the title this early into the season, although Villa fans won’t be listening.
!8 games in, they are averaging 2.17 points per game, their highest total in a Premier League season by a country mile.
In the last 70 days, the Midlands outfit have won 15 points from losing positions, nine more than they had achieved in the 657 days prior.
| Team | Games played | Points |
| Arsenal | 18 | 42 |
| Man City | 18 | 40 |
| Aston Villa | 18 | 39 |
This is the best Villa have ever been under Emery, and they have been outperforming every team in the country over the last two months.
There are still 20 games to play, and tough away matches to come, but Emery has built a team that isn’t afraid of playing anywhere.
Should Aston Villa win at the Emirates on Tuesday, then faint optimism regarding the title could turn into powerful belief very quickly.
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