Aston Villa’s position was perilous when Unai Emery arrived at the club earlier this season. Steven Gerrard left Villa above the relegation on goal difference alone. At that point, it appeared Emery had been appointed to stop the club from falling into the Championship. Now, the outlook is dramatically different.
With eight matches of the season left to play, Aston Villa are sitting sixth in the Premier League table. Emery has led his team to four straight wins, propelling them into contention for a Europa League or Europa Conference League place. Continental qualification would be an unexpected outcome given where Villa found themselves not so long ago.
Emery was previously a figure of fun among Premier League fans due to his short and ill-fated time as Arsenal manager. He was an awkward stylistic fit for the North London club whose supporters had grown accustomed to a possession-heavy, expansive style of play under Arsene Wenger. Emery was set up to fail at Arsenal due to a flawed recruitment process.
There are no such predetermined ideological expectations at Villa Park, though. Emery has had more freedom to impose a counter-attacking style of play with Aston Villa compact in a defensive sense and extremely dangerous in moments of quick transition. The framework is in place for Emery to achieve success at his new club.
Ollie Watkins is in the form of his life having scored nine goals in his last 11 appearances. Emery has asked the England international to stay in central areas rather than drift wide and drop deep, as he did under Gerrard, and this has resulted in greater numbers in front of goal. The Spaniard has been good for Watkins’ development as a finisher.
He has also managed to get the best out of players like John McGinn and Douglas Luiz, giving Villa a strong platform in the centre of the pitch. Tyrone Mings appears to have regained his confidence and is once again Aston Villa’s defensive bedrock. Emery is getting the best out of the squad he inherited.
Villa have demonstrated ambition since their promotion to the Premier League in 2019. They have spent money in the transfer market and have hired managers with the brief of guiding them into the top half of the table and beyond. Emery, however, is the only manager who has shown signs of being able to deliver on this.
“Pressure is there when you’re in the bottom and you have to win,” said the former Sevilla and Villarreal boss after the comfortable home victory over Nottingham Forest. “Pressure was when I was here playing against Manchester United! I remember that moment and I was a little bit under pressure!! Not now, not now.
“But I like it and I grew up playing under pressure as a coach. I like this, playing against the best, being very, very determined because you are playing for something to win. I want to share with the players – it’s not pressure and it’s to be ambitious and to get to being competitive to being stronger and stronger.”
With their resounding 3-0 win over Newcastle United at home this weekend, Aston Villa is squarely in the discussion around the Premier League’s top four and Champions League qualification. Villa has moved within six points of the Magpies with seven fixtures of the 2022/23 campaign left to play.
Emery’s team have a number of challenging fixtures – Newcastle, Brentford, Manchester United, Tottenham, Liverpool and Brighton – between now and the end of the season. This could halt the momentum they have built up over the past few weeks and months, but the flip side of this is the opportunity it presents to make up the difference on the teams above them.
Even if Aston Villa fall short in their efforts to qualify for European soccer, there has been enough evidence in their recent results and performances to suggest they will be a force again next season. This summer’s transfer window will present Villa with an opportunity to mould themselves around Emery, who has a clear vision for the team and the club as a whole.
