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It will seem a letdown to look at the Premier League table and see no new name in first place.
Saturday, Chelsea, Sunday, Manchester City and now Arsenal. Just two points separate the top three teams and while many still believe the current leaders may be crushed by the sheer power of the chasing pair, Arsenal are showing no sign of going away just yet.
Arsene Wenger’s side will now hold the No 1 position until Saturday, at least, and probably for longer considering their next game is against Fulham at home. They took out Aston Villa almost at walking pace, save for the 34th and 35th minutes, when they broke into a smart jog, scored twice and then conserved energy for the remainder of the game.

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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

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

It was this that helped set up an unlikely grandstand finish, when Paul Lambert saw his Villa side rise from their stupor to score and give the Premier League leaders a fright.
It was Christian Benteke, so disappointing for much of the game, who scored — a 76th-minute diving header at the far post after Santi Cazorla had lost the ball and let in Matthew Lowton. Benteke made ground and took his chance in swashbuckling style, but it was his first goal since September, a reminder of Villa’s malaise.
Last season, so much of what was good about this team came from Benteke, but he has looked lost for much of this season. 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 Per Mertesacker, save for an acrobatic effort shortly before his goal.
Time was, it was thought Arsenal needed a player like Benteke to give them the cutting edge. Is that still true? Yes and no. If Wenger could coax this second-half display from him, he could yet be an influence on the title race.
If Arsenal bought the player that turned in Benteke’s opening 45 minutes they would be better off sticking with the players available. Yes, even Nicklas Bendtner.
It was too easy, really — until those final 15 minutes. By the time Villa had the impertinence to score Arsenal appear to be already nodding off at the back of a London-bound team bus and it afforded the match a tension it barely deserved.

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

The cheers and oohs that accompanied the final exchanges were a strange soundtrack given the ghostly atmosphere of much of the first hour. Villa’s revival seemed to surprise even the locals and the announcement of six additional minutes as they sensed a barely believable fightback brought the biggest cheer of the night.
It was not to be. Arsenal held on, although the toll of injuries is mounting — Tomas Rosicky on for Serge Gnabry and then off just 17 minutes later. Still, in the brief spell when it was necessary they showed why they are the new league leaders. Even if that achievement is measured in days, sometimes hours of late.
Mild concussion, was the official verdict. Not so much Nathan Baker, more the entire Aston Villa defence.
Baker was the unfortunate defender who took a ferocious shot from Gnabry full in the face after 14 minutes and was taken from the field, head immobilised and wearing an oxygen mask. The team-mates he left behind took the force of the next blow, however — two goals from Arsenal in the space of a minute that stunned the locals into silence and left Aston Villa with a mountain to climb.
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. Fortunately, referee Neil Swarbrick realised this was no mere Sunday morning stinger and stopped the game for the Villa man to receive treatment.
He was down for seven minutes as medics took the necessary precautions and when he was considered safe enough to move, Lambert took the opportunity to revise his defensive three to a conventional four. 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 raised their game and had their two best chances of the match. First, Fabian Delph crossed for Karim El Ahmadi, who steered his shot over. Soon after, Matthew Lowton sent Gabriel Agbonlahor clear, forcing a desperate tackle from Nacho Monreal, who tripped the Villa forward and was rightly booked.

Anger boiling over: Tempers flare between players from both sides

Battle of the muscles: Giroud tussles with Villa defender Ron Vlaar with the ball past both of them

This is a very different Arsenal from the team Villa defeated on the opening day of the season, however.
They are confident and purposeful and in a trice they had as good as ended the contest. Mesut Ozil has been quieter of late after a buzzy start, but his pass for Monreal on the left after 34 minutes was a thing of beauty and caught Villa hopelessly flat. Monreal crossed and Jack Wilshere met the ball on the edge of the area with a left foot-shot that gave Brad Guzan no chance in goal.
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 delightfully 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 met by Giroud with a header that he glanced wide from close range. His reaction suggested he knew he could have done better.

Twist and turn: Fabian Delph wrong-foots Wilshere in the middle of the park

High boot? Ciaran Clark aggressively clears the ball away from Gnabry

Villa, too, had an early opportunity when a mistake by Wilshere, losing the ball to Christian Benteke, ended with Delph snatching at a shot that travelled wide.
The gap between the sides, however, was sizable and the home fans sensed it. Not for the first time this season, they were subdued, almost resigned to their fate. It felt, at times, like an exhibition match, Arsenal rarely needing to play with the urgency required of Manchester City at Newcastle on Sunday, or even Chelsea at Hull.
Last season, so much of what was good about this team came from Benteke, but he did not touch the ball inside the Arsenal penalty area once in the first half and was handled perfectly by Per Mertesacker, the big German whom Arsenal’s travelling fans serenade so often.