The pressure's on: City and Chelsea won at weekend, so now can Arsenal reclaim No 1 spot in the title race with a victory at Villa?

Over to you, Arsene Wenger.

Manchester City and Chelsea came through tough tests over the weekend to leapfrog Arsenal and heap the pressure on their match against Aston Villa on Monday night. It has been building all weekend.

A moment of magic from Eden Hazard opened the scoring and a rare goal from Fernando Torres secured a win over potentially awkward opponents Hull for Jose Mourinho.

There is no way it would have failed to escape Wenger's attention when those three points in the opening game of the weekend moved Chelsea top for the first time since September.

Next up: Arsenal's Jack Wilshere (left) and Mathieu Flamini train ahead of their clash at Aston Villa

Talent: Arsene Wenger (centre) casts his eye over Mesut Ozil training as Arsenal aim to reclaim top spot

Watching over: Wenger gets his Arsenal players prepared for this latest test of their title credentials

Then, on Sunday afternoon, Manuel Pellegrini's City were lucky to win at Newcastle, usurping Chelsea at the top and moving Arsenal down another place to third.

The injustice in that game was such that Alan Pardew erupted into an expletive-laden rant on the touchline and furiously confronted referee Michael Jones. There was probably a Frenchman back in London thinking he wasn't too far off the mark.

Now it's time for Wenger's men to show they have got what it takes to square up against two clubs who in total have won 15 trophies since Arsenal last lifted one back in 2005.

Triumphant: Eden Hazard celebrates scoring Chelsea's first goal in the win that saw them leapfrog Arsenal

Clinical: Man City's Edin Dzeko scores in the win over Newcastle that saw them go above Chelsea and Arsenal

It's one thing winning every other weekend on the slick Emirates pitch, where Wenger's team can pass others off the park.

It's another to face a Villa side battling to keep out of the relegation scrap on what is expected to be a frosty, wet Monday night at Villa Park.

Like heavyweights slugging it out in the ring, winning on nights like this will be crucial to ensure there is no-chance for City or Chelsea to race ahead and land an early knockout blow in the title race. 

Wenger will know he stands far more chance of winning this bout by a narrow points victory, after all.

Big loss: Theo Walcott, now out injured, scores in Arsenal's win over Cardiff in their most recent league game

Back in contention: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's return from injury is good news for Arsenal

In the wake of Arsenal's 3-1 defeat in the reverse of this fixture on the opening day of the season Wenger was forced to apologise.

He was loudly booed by Arsenal fans who were already disgruntled by the lack of transfer activity at that stage.

Since then the Frenchman added Mezut Ozil for a club record £42.5million and – in what turned out to be an inspired piece of business – landed Mathieu Flamini on a free. That pair have turned Arsenal into serious title contenders.

 

Serge Gnabry playing one-touch game with Arsenal team-mates

History is in Arsenal's favour. Villa have not done the double over Arsenal since the very first Premier League season, back in 1992-1993. That year Villa were runners-up in the league, behind Manchester United who won their first ever league title under Alex Ferguson.

The former United manager who was for so long Wenger's nemesis has finally stepped down – is it the Arsenal boss's turn to take centre stage once again?