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Alan Shearer column: 'Ollie Watkins is key for amazing Villa - but don't count Man City out'

If you'd told me Aston Villa could be top of the Premier League on Christmas Day after Newcastle thrashed them 5-1 on the opening day of the season, I probably would have laughed.

But if Villa beat Sheffield United on Friday - which you'd expect them to, with their superb record at Villa Park - and Liverpool draw with Arsenal on Saturday, then Unai Emery's side will be at the summit when everyone tucks into their turkey.

That would be a fantastic achievement, but just for them to be up there in third place at this stage is amazing when you consider the way they started the season with that heavy defeat at St James' Park and also lost a key defender, Tyrone Mings, to a serious injury on the same day.