Jack Wilshere has hailed Arsenal's 2-1 victory at Aston Villa as a "massive three points" after it took them back to the top of the Premier League table.

The midfielder scored the opening goal on Monday evening as the Gunners held off a late Villa revival to pick up a win which sees them climb above Manchester City and Chelsea.

While no prizes are awarded for being at the summit in January, Wilshere hinted that setting the pace, rather than playing catch up to their title rivals, is crucial and that it gives the North London outfit momentum heading into a busy period in which they face four games in the space of 15 days.

"It's a massive three points, especially in the second half when Villa came at us," he told Sky Sports News.

"We've done that a lot this season, maybe dropped off in the second half and let teams come on to us, but we dealt with it well. We're showing that side of our game and we hope to continue that for the rest of the season.

"We just take each game as it comes. We said before tonight's game that, if we win, we will go back to the top and that's important. We've had a game every three days up to now. Now we've got a week off and it's important we get some rest in. We've got a home game next week, then we go again."

Olivier Giroud was the other Gunners scorer at Villa Park as Arsenal recorded a fifth straight win.