The home crowd was leaving the Emirates Stadium into the Sunday gloom as the final whistle blew. The stadium was already half empty.

Mikel Arteta was spotted walking across the field to cheer on the empty pink-red seats—that is, the ones that were still occupied at the end of an afternoon that began with boisterous club anthems, heated exchanges on the touchline, and well-choreographed triumphant feelings.

The Aston Villa players celebrated a fantastic occasion in their own season by giving hugs, waving, and cheering at the highly enthusiastic away end. Their 2-0 triumph here will help to guarantee that the team plays among Europe’s best teams the next season. 

Apart from that, there was a feeling that the day had finally turned a clear hue of sky blue as the light below the lip of the stand faded to chilly spring pewter.

The fiercely contested three-way race for the Premier League championship is far from over. This is hardly the beginning of the end for the very competitive three-way race for the Premier League title. However, it’s likely both of these things, let’s face it. After all, we’ve already watched this film.

Related: Bailey and Watkins harm Arsenal’s hopes of winning the title as Aston Villa stuns Arsenal

A more successful weekend could hardly be imagined for Manchester City, who began play on Saturday with a 5-1 victory over Luton, scoring goals whenever they pleased, resting important players for three days before hosting Real Madrid.

Fast-forward to Sunday, when both Liverpool and Arsenal suffered heartbreaking home losses, two hours apart. With just 14 minutes remaining in the early kickoff at Anfield, Ebereche Eze scored the game’s lone goal thanks to a masterfully executed combination. 

Following that, Liverpool had 427 attempts to score on the Crystal Palace goal, but they never really looked like they would. At the Emirates, Arsenal started off strong but were easily outplayed by a strong and disciplined Aston Villa team, who almost dominated the final 20 minutes instead of holding on.

By then, Manchester City leads the league by just two points. However, they are also—and this cannot be overstated—two enormous and intimidating points ahead at the top, giving the impression that they are a team on the verge of an unprecedented double-treble, 12 games away at this point, and without ever having run away from the field this season or discovered their own higher gears before.

In any field, there’s a lot to be said for just staying put and allowing the other person to blink. This has been the character of City’s title pursuit this season; it is as much an act of will as it is of skill or technique. Without fear. following the procedure. A continuous, mechanical all-court chase with never-ending levels. It is quite difficult to see this being the turning point—of all the turning points that have come before—where they begin to gaze down.

Here, Arsenal got out to a strong start and had a chance to lead in the first sixty minutes. After the break, they simply appeared to get into a zone, with Villa putting on the kind of show that rips at your emotions and exposes your shortcomings in a really harsh way.

The first goal came on minute 84, but it had been building for the previous thirty minutes. It was a strange goal, a time when Arsenal’s defense—which had been outstanding up until—just fell apart.

John McGinn performed admirably as the foundation of the Villa midfield. Lucas Digne was played a pass out to the left by him. In the absence of Kai Havertz, Digne was able to whip in a low cross that went through the Arsenal six-yard box and past Gabriel Magalhães and William Saliba, surprising Declan Rice in the process. 

It then reached Leon Bailey, who was able to spank it into the goal, leaving David Raya caught off guard. Five Arsenal players had been substituted out of the match by one insignificant pass.

Two minutes later, Ollie Watkins, who had again been unleashed by a single straight through pass, finished beautifully to make it 2-0. Watkins dragged himself away, hesitated just long enough, and then deflected the ball to go beyond Raya’s reach and into the far corner.

Due to Unai Emery’s readiness to adapt his squad to their opponents and take note of the strategies their Champions League opponents have used to sabotage Arsenal’s momentum, this matchup has always appeared to be among Arsenal’s toughest remaining league games. 

This is not so much due to the team’s performance as it is. Take a deeper seat. During the intermission, play. Never be taken aback by what you see at corners.

Naturally, Arsenal will be accused of holding back or faltering at this point. However, there seemed to be no shortage of effort—perhaps only a lack of the edge—that is, the nastiness, luck, expertise, and sense of inevitable success that champions possess.

Ødegaard was outstanding in the first half, dribbling, playing through passes, making tackles, and consistently tugging the strings. However, what was grasped by his end? Kai Havertz floating around like a ship ready to dock, experiencing one of his more hazy afternoons. 

Gabriel Jesus has the trademark blend of razor-sharp reflexes and croquet mallet finishing perfection.

When the team performs to its full potential, none of this matters. However, those links were broken here. There are still six games left, so that image could still alter. This is not the conclusion. It was simply the sensation.