Unai Emery has piled the pressure on Arsenal ahead of Tuesday's clash with Aston Villa by making the Gunners favourites for the Premier League title.

Villa are just three points behind Arsenal in the table and are the form team in the country after winning 11 straight matches in all competitions.

Emery managed Arsenal for 18 months between 2018-19 and is now into his fourth year at Villa Park. His team got the better of Mikel Arteta’s men in the reverse fixture on December 6 but he expects the challenge to be tougher at Emirates Stadium.

‘Arsenal are competing at the highest level of football,’ said Emery. ‘They are favourites for the league, in terms of how they are building the team, improving a lot of things.

‘They signed two players for every position last summer and brought in some very important players. They have some players coming back from injury like Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus.

‘You can see they are stronger now. It’s the biggest [test] we’ll face. We must be proud of how close we are to Manchester City and Arsenal, and remain humble, confident and ambitious.’

If Villa win in north London, they would set an all-time club record. Their dire start to the season left many wondering whether Emery had reached the end of the line at this club, but he has silenced those fears in the most emphatic fashion possible.

Two seasons ago, Villa were in a similarly strong position and though they faded in the second half of the campaign, it will still enough to seal a place in the Champions League for the 2024-25 campaign.

Emery added: ‘Two years ago we had 39 points at this stage of the season as we do now. People asked the same questions [about the title race].

‘We finished fourth and qualified for the Champions League which of course was fantastic. To speak about the title doesn’t make sense for us now in December.’