Arsenal v Aston Villa: Premier League – live

We’re at that point aren’t we? Two squads, each rammed with players who’ve flogged themselves their whole lives, sacrificing their youth and neglecting their relationships desperate to experience the intensity of a moments like this one … and now it’s here.

Arsenal took a while to get going this season, but the addition of Declan Rice gave them ballast – they can now win without playing well – while that of Kai Havertz gave them options – they can also now win if things don’t start well. It took Mikel Arteta a little time to work out how best to deploy his assets, but he now has a sense of which combinations suit which opponents and, if he miscalculates, a variety of alterations available to pose opponents a different challenge. So now, as things get edgy, these two aspects – central solidity and forward variety, two aspects absent last season – might take Arsenal one step further.

Might. Because above them, Manchester City are building momentum; below them, Liverpool are fuelled by messianism and the easiest of the three run-ins; and today, Aston Villa visit the Emirates.

Unai Emery doesn’t come across as a man fulled by injustice and indignance, and Villa’s needs – a first European Cup appearance since they qualified as holders in 1982-83 – will be more than enough to get him and his players going. But though he was probably the wrong man to succeed Arséne Wenger, so was everyone else, and the way he was treated – handed a mess then sacked while still assimilating the extent of its sweep – will have hurt. His players will want to do this for themselves, but given what he’s done for them, they’ll also want to show the best of him.

And they could. Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins are a handful for any defence, particularly on the counter, while Youri Tielemans will fancy himself to create for them – and him – especially if the area in front of the Arsenal defence is patrolled by Jorginho, who lacks the physicality to do so with any authority.

Otherwise, though, with Douglas Luiz suspended and Jacob Ramsey, Emi Buendía, Boubacar Kamara and Tyrone Mings all out for the season, they might just lack the cohesion to stop a team increasingly convinced the time for which they’ve been waiting forever has finally arrived.

Kick-off: 4.30pm BST