Unai Emery insists Aston Villa will only be genuine Premier League title contenders if they remain in the hunt with three games to go.

Villa moved within four points of leaders Arsenal with a 2-0 win at Newcastle on Sunday, hours before the Gunners suffered a surprise 3-2 home defeat to a resurgent Manchester United. Emery’s side, now third in the table, are level on points with second-placed Manchester City as the title race intensifies.

Despite Villa securing their first victory at St James’ Park since 2005, the ever-pragmatic Emery refused to let talk of a first league title since 1981 get ahead of itself.

“Last week we lost against Everton, and no one asked me about contenders for the title, but now yes?” Emery said.
“Next week we are playing Brentford at home. Calm. Keeping balance is the only objective I have in mind.
“The only way I know is to work every day. If we perform consistently, maybe we can do better, and maybe on day 35 we can speak differently.”

Emery has repeatedly emphasized that Villa are underdogs in the title race due to the financial strength of Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, and Chelsea. He returned to that theme when asked about Villa’s chances of finishing top.

“Of course, we are competing against Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Newcastle, Tottenham… wow, the power they have,” he said.
“But we are competing. We are there. We are getting points.”

On the pitch, Villa took the lead when Emiliano Buendia curled a dipping strike past goalkeeper Nick Pope. Newcastle came close to equalizing, but Emiliano Martinez produced a superb save from Lewis Miley’s header just before halftime.

Ollie Watkins sealed the victory with a late goal, giving Villa a well-earned 2-0 win. However, the triumph was tempered by a fitness blow, with Scotland midfielder John McGinn ruled out for up to two months with a knee injury.

“We are so happy, so proud of the work we did,” Emery said. “After the Everton loss, we needed to react, and we did it.”