With the Gunners having allowed some of the teams chasing them to get uncomfortably close, questions were clearly going to be asked as to whether they had the mettle to get over what has been a mental barrier for them in recent seasons.
Could Arsenal top the league at New Year?
Were Villa mere pretenders to the throne, or was their 11-match winning run a sign that 2025/26 was going to be a vintage year for Unai Emery and his squad?
The North Londoners knew that they had to win the game if they wanted to end the year at the top of the Premier League, so the stakes were high before a ball was kicked.
Only Emery will know why he made so many changes for arguably the biggest league fixture of the season to date, although Matty Cash and Boubacar Kamara were suspended.
Lamare Bogarde, Lucas Digne, Jadon Sancho, Amadou Onana and Oliver Watkins all came into the starting XI, with John McGinn, Donyell Malen and Ian Maatsen missing out.
Sancho's first start for Villa
Sancho's first start for the club was notable only for it being just that, whilst Watkins' two-goal heroics at Chelsea made him a shoo-in to start in North London.
The Englishman was also celebrating his birthday, and what better way to mark the occasion than by scoring the goals to potentially bring his side level at the top of the pile.
Declan Rice missed out for the hosts because of a knee problem, just the fourth game he hadn't played any part in since joining in 2023. In the previous three, Arsenal had remained unbeaten (W2, D1).
Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba started for the first time in the league since November 8th (against Sunderland). In the five league matches previous to that, when both had played the full match together as a centre-back duo, Arsenal kept five clean sheets, so the onus was very much on Villa to disrupt them.
Though almost half of the action in the opening 20 minutes had been in the visitors' defensive third, Arsenal only had one Viktor Gyokeres effort to show for their troubles.
It was the Swede's only touch in that time, with him being the only player on the pitch who hadn't made a single pass as the halfway point of the first half approached, further evidencing that he hasn't really set the Emirates Stadium alight since his transfer.
Indeed, excluding penalties, Gyokeres has only scored with one of his last 23 shots in the Premier League (against Burnley in November).
Gunners found it hard to get their passing game going
By contrast, Watkins had three attempts in the same time frame, as Villa showed how swiftly they could turn defence into attack.
The Gunners came on a little stronger and peppered Emi Martinez's goal; however, their collective 126 completed passes were their fewest in the opening 30 minutes of a league home game this season.
That may have had a lot to do with the industry of Emi Buendia and Youri Tielemans, who both contested a dozen duels each by the end of the game.
The pairing were adept at breaking up Arsenal's silky passing game, with the effervescent Morgan Rogers also winning five of his six one-to-ones as the Villans went toe-to-toe with their opponents.
No shots on target for Villa before half-time
Though the visitors were comfortable in possession themselves, with Onana completing all of his passes, and others posting completion stats in the high 80s or low 90% range, the fact remained that Villa hadn't managed a single shot on target before the break.
Arteta will undoubtedly have been pleased that keeping another first-half clean sheet meant a 15th in their 19 Premier League games this season.
The Spaniard will understand more than most that passing for passing's sake might look pretty but is rarely effective, and can often come back and bite you.
Which is precisely what happened to Villa within seven minutes of the second half...
Two up in no time
By then, Arteta's men were two goals to the good, thanks to a towering header from Gabriel and a coolly taken finish from Martin Zubimendi. That meant 11 goals scored for the Gunners in the 15 minutes after half-time, more than any other English top-flight team this season.
Gabriel's effort came, predictably, from a corner, giving Arsenal the somewhat dubious honour of being just the second team to score 20+ set-piece goals (ex. penalties) in consecutive years in the Premier League (21 in 2024, 20 in 2025), after Wimbledon between 1993 and 1996.
Zubimendi's third of the campaign meant he's just one away from equalling his best output in a season (four for Real Sociedad in 2023/24).
Sancho's substitution at the hour was no surprise. The 25-year-old's career has drifted in the past few seasons, and his contribution on the night was negligible.
No shots at all, only two touches in the opposition box, at fault for allowing Martin Odegaard to dispossess him and set up Zubimendi, and just 20 touches of the ball - the least of all of Villa's starting XI.
Trossard puts the game to bed
Not long after, Leandro Trossard put the game to bed with his first goal since scoring against Villa at the start of December. A fifth of the season also drew him level with Gyokeres at the top of the scoring charts.
The Belgian now has the most goals (10) and goal involvements (18) for Arsenal in the Premier League in 2025, as well as being their joint-top assister (eight - level with Odegaard). Not at all bad for a player who has often had to be content with a substitute role.
Villa again dominated possession with 66% of the ball over a 15-minute period; however, there was never any urgency or purpose to their play.
With 14 minutes left, Gyokeres was replaced by Gabriel Jesus, and just 55 seconds later, the Brazilian had scored with his first touch to send the Emirates faithful delirious.
A first goal since 1st January 2025 against Brentford was a great way for the striker to bookend the year.
Not until injury-time did Villa have a shot on target, and yet, in the space of two minutes, they'd had two shots that hit the woodwork, two more on target and a goal from Watkins.
By then, however, it was too little, too late, and a real opportunity was missed for Emery & Co.
