When the final whistle sounded at the Stadium of Light on September 21, some still thought that coach Unai Emery's chair at Aston Villa was shaking violently.
Villa at that time had not won any matches after 5 opening rounds. This was only the fourth time in the club's long history that this scenario had occurred. It was also their worst unbeaten start in 56 years and the worst in the highest league since the 1964-1965 season.
Just 5 days before the defeat against Sunderland, Villa was also eliminated from the League Cup right from the first round after a penalty shootout defeat to Brentford. Meanwhile, Matty Cash's goal in the 1-1 draw against Sunderland with only 10 men was their first goal in the Premier League this season. Villa had to wait 427 minutes to score in the tournament.
Then the turning point came at home on September 25 - a victory over Bologna in the UEFA Europa League. That was Villa's first victory of the season and also the opening shot for an unbelievable winning streak with 17 wins in 19 matches in all competitions.
Among them, 11 victories came from the last 11 official matches, thereby equaling the club's record - a milestone previously only set in September 1897 and March 1914.
8 wins in this series of matches took place in the Premier League. This is the first time they have done this in the highest league in England since the 9-match winning streak from October to December 1910.
The great battle with Arsenal in the early morning of tomorrow (December 31st) will open up opportunities for Villa to extend their winning streak and close 2025 in the most impressive way. But how far are they from the Premier League record?
Aston Villa's 8-match winning streak is certainly admirable, but still quite far from the record of consecutive wins in the Premier League.
In the history of the league, Liverpool (from October 2019 to February 2020) and Manchester City (from August to December 2017) both hold the record of 18 consecutive wins - the longest streak of all time in the highest league in England.
To date, there have been 27 cases of teams winning longer than Villa's 8-match streak in the Premier League. Most recently, Man City's 13-match winning streak in the period from April to September 2024.
However, only 4 Premier League teams have had a longer winning streak in all competitions compared to Aston Villa's current 11-game winning streak. If Emery's team creates a surprise by defeating Arsenal at the Emirates in the 19th round, their winning streak will only be second to two other clubs in the Premier League era.
However, to surpass the milestone of 21 consecutive impressive victories of Man City under Pep Guardiola (from December 2020 to March 2021), Villa still needs to win 11 more consecutive matches.
Starting with a victory against Southampton in the Premier League on December 19, 2020, Man City extended their winning streak to 21 wins in all competitions, before unexpectedly falling 0-2 at home to Manchester United on March 7, 2021.
Meanwhile, Arsenal won 11 matches at the end of the 2001-2002 season, and then won 2 more at the beginning of the 2002-2003 season. That 13-match winning streak is currently the second longest winning streak of a Premier League team in all competitions.
