McGinn a title race? Not yet
John jokes he’s banning ‘t’ word despite monumental Villa week
John McGinn capped a “monumental” week for Aston Villa as he fired the winner against Arsenal to leave them just two points off the summit.
But the Scotland star insists he’s banning talk of the title – despite Unai Emery’s men defeating both champions Manchester City and the league leaders within the space of a few days.
McGinn’s classy turn and finish in the seventh minute was enough to settle a tight game, with Arsenal having a stoppage- time leveller from Kai Havertz ruled out for handball in a goalmouth scramble.
Third-placed Villa are now just a point behind the Gunners and two adrift of new pace-setters Liverpool.
But when asked about a title challenge, goal hero McGinn said: “I’m banning the ‘ t’ word. We’re only 16 games in.
“What a monumental week it has been for us. That was actually a really tough spell for us.
“We played Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday and I think it showed in our performance tonight. It wasn’t our best but I’m certainly not complaining.
“The second half was a bit of character, a bit of grit. We’ve had
Aston Villa ................. 1 Arsenal ...................... 0 clean sheets against the two best teams in the league and it’s another huge win. Arsenal have made a habit of scoring late goals and it was up to us to keep concentrated.”
Gaffer Unai Emery was also coy on the title talk, saying: “I will speak again when we are in game 30-32 and if we are in the same position.
“At the start we are not a contender, it is only game 16. We are in (the top four) and must try to keep it. It is difficult, we are not dominating matches like we are here.”
Gunners gaffer Mikel Arteta was frustrated by the decision to disallow Havertz’s late goal.
And he insisted VAR should have over-ruled the call.
Arteta said: “It’s clear and obvious for me.
“But I’m really proud of the way the team played in this stadium against this team.
“We deserved to win the game but you have to be better in the boxes and things have to go your way as well.
“The result was not there but certainly the way we played was there.”