How 'tactical genius' Unai Emery got revenge for his Arsenal sacking as high-flying Aston Villa attempt to completely flip the script in Premier League title race

Just as David Moyes found out that succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United was hardly the glamorous job it was billed to be, Emery was Arsenal's fall guy when they decided to end Arsene Wenger's 22-year stay in north London back in 2018. The Gunners' squad was weaker than those of their big-six rivals, particularly in defence where the likes of Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis and Sead Kolasinac were seen as cornerstones, while the club's move to spread power into various roles rather than be at the whim of the manager made for some teething problems.

A top-heavy side that relied heavily on the goals of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette finished fifth in the Premier League in Emery's only full season, spurning a top-four finish down the final stretch. They were also thrashed 4-1 by rivals Chelsea in the Europa League final, a competition which was said to be the new head coach's bread and butter.

The vibes were off. Emery's initially poor grasp of the English language combined with strange squad construction, upheaval upstairs and the general demands of Arsenal as a club meant this was a recipe for disaster. That much of his summer 2019 budget went on £72m Nicolas Pepe, then a club-record signing and unproven save for one year at Lille, only made matters more complicated.

Arsenal started 2019-20 terribly and Emery was eventually put out of his misery on November 29. He was replaced on a permanent basis by Manchester City assistant and ex-Gunners captain Mikel Arteta, who had interviewed for the job when Wenger left but, as fate had it, was given a reprieve when it went to another Spaniard instead.

Emery was back in work in time for the 2020-21 season, returning to Spain with Villarreal, his first job in his home country in four years following unsuccessful stints with Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain. The stars aligned when the Yellow Submarine were drawn to face Arteta's new-look Gunners in the semi-finals of that season's Europa League.

After mildly flirting with a relegation battle at Christmas, Arsenal showed glimpses of the potential that would be realised years down the line during the second half of that campaign, putting together some winning streaks and turning back to the possession-based philosophy of old from the Wenger era. That, however, still wasn't enough to topple the Europa League king in Emery, whose Villarreal side prevailed 2-1 on aggregate and led for all but five minutes of the entire tie.

Emery made no reference to exacting revenge on Arsenal post-second leg, though he must have been delighted to have got one over his former team. "I am very proud, we know the match was very important for us and Arsenal are a very good team, but we needed to do the work like we did tonight and in the first leg in Villarreal and I think we deserve it," he said, his English slightly more coherent than it ever was when managing in the country the first time around. "I think we made a very serious match, definitely with big performances and helping each other. I think the first leg in Villarreal was very important for us and today I think we worked very well and defended very well as well. Sometimes with the possession, we control and we took some options in attack to score the goals. But really the best chances to score, they had."

Villarreal went on to beat Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Manchester United in the final on penalties, while Arsenal still haven't won a trophy since August 2020 when they beat Chelsea in the only FA Cup final to be played behind closed doors.

By the time Emery returned to England in the autumn of 2022 with Villa, it was long reported he felt he had unfinished business in England. He had turned down an approach from Newcastle 12 months prior before their new Saudi PIF owners hired Eddie Howe, suggesting there wasn't a "clear vision" at St James' Park.

With Villa, it was a different story. "Opportunities arrive, like the one I had here when I arrived. And when I saw this one, I knew I had to take it," Emery said at his final Villarreal press conference as he prepared to depart for the team sat 16th in the Premier League. "It is a new sporting challenge, a different sports project. This club also has a very nice sports project, and I will be able to make decisions alongside people very close to me."

The message was clear. At Villa, Emery would have greater autonomy than he ever had at Arsenal, where he was a cog in an untested system, or at Newcastle, who didn't know quite what they were yet. It paid dividends almost immediately, with the West Midlands side finishing the season an unlikely seventh to qualify for the Conference League.

Emery's first domestic meeting against Arsenal ended in heartbreaking defeat. Arteta had, by now, turned the Gunners not only into Premier League title contenders, but clear frontrunners. Arsenal's 4-2 win at Villa Park in February 2023, featuring two goals in added time, sent them top, where they would remain until matchday 34.

The playing field had levelled a bit more when Villa hosted Arsenal again in December 2023, when Emery's men took down both the Gunners and Manchester City 1-0 in a span of four days, solidifying their position in the top three, not too dissimilar to the current standings.

The Arsenal of that winter hadn't hit full stride yet. Defeat at Villa Park kickstarted a run of one win in five games, seeing them drop to third in the table. But the Gunners of January to May 2024 were nearly flawless. In 18 Premier League games, they recorded 16 wins. The two they weren't victorious in, however, will haunt them until they win a title again.

On March 31, Arsenal battled to a 0-0 draw away at City. There was much clamour for Arteta to try and prevail in that six-pointer, but sharing one each wasn't the end of the world so long as they made up for it elsewhere. Not killing off Villa a fortnight later made it impossible to finish in first.

A scintillating first-half display somehow didn't yield a goal for Arsenal, who pushed and pushed until they were caught on their heels in the 84th minute, when Leon Bailey broke the deadlock down the other end. Moments later, Watkins iced the game, dinking beyond former Brentford team-mate David Raya to seal three invaluable points in both the title and top-four races.

Villa pipped Tottenham to the final Champions League spot by two points. Arsenal lost the title to City by two points. Fine margins swung in favour of Emery.

When the calendar rolled into the 2024-25 season, it was hard to deny there was a bit of needle between Arsenal and Villa, not least because of Emery's history. The north Londoners' 2-0 triumph at Villa Park on the second week of the campaign seemed to have exorcised some demons, yet it was a false dawn for a year marked by regression and injuries.

Even then, Villa managed to make another trip to the Emirates Stadium worthwhile. Arsenal went two goals up early in the second half of their January 2025 meeting, only for back-to-back strikes from Youri Tielemans and boyhood Gunner Watkins to snatch back a point.

The growing evidence that Emery was the kryptonite to Arteta's Arsenal became almost undeniable earlier this month. Arsenal once again went to Villa Park looking to extend their lead atop the table, but this time suffered defeat in the most heartbreaking of circumstances.

The game was finely poised at 1-1 and both sides were huffing and puffing their way towards a winner. Noni Madueke went closest for the visitors, striking the side-netting in the dying embers, before a grandstand finish in front of the Holte End. The usually mean defence of Arsenal failed to clear their lines, and at what felt like the millionth attempt in a matter of seconds, Emiliano Buendia's snap-shot flew past Raya. 94:02 it read on the clock.

Emery jumped for joy on the touchline. This was his fourth victory from eight against Arteta, a win percentage only bettered by Arne Slot, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp from managers who have faced him multiple times.

"It was quite cruel the way we lost," Arteta said, reflecting on this loss on Monday. "We'll watch it back. I have a few ideas and things that we have to do better."

Emery's various triumphs at Arsenal's expense since he was fired by the Emirates Stadium's top brass have paved the way for a narrative that complicates history. It's been suggested the Gunners simply should have stuck by their post-Wenger hire and everything would have magically sorted itself out.

The truth is that both Arsenal and Emery needed that chastening experience in order to grow. If anything, Emery made life much easier for Arteta. He took the immediate fall of the new era, he took on a squad that was so ghastly it took until Arteta's third season to get rid of the middling eighth-place stench. Around 49,000 tickets were sold for Emery's final match as Arsenal boss, a home defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt, but eyewitnesses claim the attendance was probably half of that figure.

This allowed Emery to find himself again at Villarreal, and opened the door for Arsenal to get properly stuck into a rebuild with the younger coach they had earmarked all along. Both managers and clubs have been allowed to thrive because of the level of buy-in they've earned and control they've been afforded. Everyone's a winner from this.

Should Villa leave the Emirates Stadium as victors again, though, the noise around this narrative will crank back up again. A win for the visitors would see them move level on points with Arsenal, albeit with a far inferior goal difference, and leave the door ajar for City to go top when they travel to Sunderland on New Year's Day.

Watkins, so often the slayer of Arsenal, is back in form having grabbed the brace which downed Chelsea on Saturday. Earlier that afternoon, the Gunners scraped their way to a 2-1 win of their own against Brighton, during which supporters grew increasingly agitated and were merely relieved once the final whistle went.

So, one of the overriding questions for Tuesday night is this: who heads into this match with less fear? Arsenal, whose home crowd is getting tetchy at the first sign of trouble again, or Villa, who were wondering only three months ago if this cycle of their modern history had completely ended?

Villa's quest for a 12th successive win will be attacked head on. If they get it, Emery can no longer deny his team's title credentials. It would certainly add another layer of spice to this already compelling season.