Villa had an expected goals (xG) tally of 2.27 on Saturday, the highest by any team against the Gunners in the Premier League this season, and created five big chances, including the goals for Matty Cash and Buendia.
They have have scored 5.45 more goals [22 in total] than their xG [16.55] and conceded 5.83 fewer goals [15] than their xGA [20.83] in the Premier League this season.
The latter metric – expected goals against – measures how many goals a team would be expected to concede based on the chances created against them.
Villa’s director of football operations and Emery’s trusted lieutenant Damian Vidagany wrote on X after last week’s 1-0 win over Wolves that it did not matter if Villa scored from the moon, just that they were getting the points.
Buendia is now Villa’s joint top Premier League scorer with Donyell Malen on four goals – Ollie Watkins, Morgan Rogers and Cash have three – so Villa are also not relying on one player to put the ball in the net.
They may be outperforming expected goals figures at both ends of the pitch, but few would begrudge Villa their place near the summit.
No team has won more Premier League games since the start of March than Villa.
“I am not thinking in it [the title],” said Emery. “I know 38 matches is very difficult. We are not a contender. If we were in game 35, perhaps we can speak differently.
“Three points gives us a lot of confidence and it gives us a lot of feelings together about how we are doing in this way. The table, we are feeling better about it than two months ago.
“[I am] so proud of how we are responding and how we focus on each match, also in Europe. The players are the protagonists.”
It is a long way from Villa’s early-season struggles when they failed to win any of their opening six games – including going out to Brentford in the Carabao Cup.
They did not score in the Premier League until their sixth game, a 1-1 draw against 10-man Sunderland, but since that point in late September they have won 13 out of 15 games.
Emery acknowledged their form is the best he could have expected, having been third bottom when leaving the Stadium of Light on 21 September.
He said: “How we are now, I am so proud of the players, how they are taking the challenges we are sending in the dressing room. But it is the reality, the reality is everything we are achieving, but the reality as well is the difficulties we are going to face.
“The Premier League is very difficult and our target in 38 matches, we will see it, but of course now we are feeling good and feeling strong and feeling comfortable in the position we are.”
