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Just 60 days in the past when Morgan Rogers found himself on the Stadium of Light pitch, appearing bewildered as the Villa manager berated him for missing a pass in behind. During that period, as the club endured a six-game winless run, it wasn't clear if Rogers' form were a sign or the source for Villa's more general malaise.

“When Rogers netted his second… Emery tore off his coat, threw his arms wide, and bellowed in delight.”

In the latest match, however, the touchline reaction was entirely much more joyous. After the in-form star drilled in his second strike to reclaim his side's advantage, Emery tore off his coat, spread his arms and roared. The team marched on to a 10th successive win , after failing to win their opening six games, are somehow just three points behind table-toppers Arsenal.

Is This Team Legitimate Title Contenders?

This is a rather hard question to address. History, the perceived status of the club, argues against it. Furthermore, their performances haven't been entirely convincing in many games, while the victories have accumulated.

Per statistical analysis, twice all season have Villa registered an xG more than 0.5 greater than the other team. For a team who have strung together 10 in a row, the Villans look strangely fragile – yet right now the margins are going in their favour.

The Rogers Recipe

The current approach seems to be to exchange chances with rivals and then rely on their talisman to bail them out with a couple of clinical strikes. This occurred away to Leeds, it transpired at West Ham, and it happened when facing United.

The initial strike stemmed from a superb shot, bent just inside the post from a wide position. For his second was essentially a slightly less clean iteration of his first capitalizing on an Ollie Watkins lay-off.

“Perhaps Rogers’ right foot is becoming like Arjen Robben’s left: just because you know he’s going to whip the ball into the top corner doesn’t mean you can stop him.”

Is It Sustainable?

Logic says not. During the latest victory, the opposition managed more efforts and more efforts on goal. The team has triumphed in eight consecutive games by the narrowest of margins. The defence has been breached in all except one of those games.

Regression to the mean could be the most significant challenge the club will encounter over the coming weeks. The forward, in all likelihood, cannot keep on drilling his shots past despairing goalkeepers forever.

Reasons for Optimism

Maybe there exists an alternative path whereby, instead of results trending towards performances, the level of play rises to match the results. Key players may yet return to peak condition.

• Ollie Watkins could start finding the net regularly.
• The attacking talent may rediscover the performer he resembled at Borussia Dortmund.
• The defensive duo are due to return from injury, bolstering a periodically leaky backline.

Maybe within that lies the seeds of a title challenge, however, it is improbable can continue to depend solely on a single individual.

Savoring the Moment

Yet, nobody expected this. Nobody thought the team would be third at Christmas. And most definitely back in October, no one envisioned the young forward as the year closed would be leading a championship pursuit and appearing as an essential England player.

The current run should be enjoyed for the very reason that it feels so unlikely. When Rogers positioned himself before the Villa faithful after the match conducting the cheers, he appeared to be thoroughly enjoying it. A feeling he has rightly earned. These spells do not happen often and must be appreciated.