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The statistic doing the rounds this week was that Chris Wilder has been sacked and reappointed as the Sheffield United manager since Boubacar Kamara scored Aston Villa’s last league goal four months ago. Villa have been slow out of the blocks and this is unusual territory for Unai Emery, who has spent the best part of three years almost exclusively exceeding all expectations, elevating a team who were near the bottom of the Premier League into one capable of bloodying the noses of European superpowers in the Champions League.
But a sticky start, four Premier League matches without a victory or goal – they are the only team in the professional pyramid to carry that ignominious mantle – and a midweek Carabao Cup exit, has been rather in keeping with a difficult few months. Villa headed into the summer knowing incomings would be limited owing to the financial picture and they sold Jacob Ramsey, a homegrown and well-regarded player, plus some on the fringes, to help balance the books. But uncertainty lingered around key players until the September transfer deadline, none more so than their goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, who had been keen to move. The additions of Harvey Elliott, who will join permanently next summer, Jadon Sancho and Victor Lindelöf belatedly provided a much-needed boost.
Considering Villa reached the Champions League quarter-finals last season, they have arguably improved year on year since Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens acquired the club. So, has it been a strange time? “A little bit, but we keep going,” Emery says. “Because I had a lot of [difficult] moments. Two and a half years ago we lost three matches in a row [against Leicester, Manchester City and Arsenal], and in that moment I was focused on the reaction. Today is the same. The last two matches, I felt our progress.”
Is it too early to think this could be a defining week for Villa? On Sunday they visit the Stadium of Light – where Sunderland have won both games since returning to the top flight – in need of a fillip and a week later host Fulham, another side they will be expected to overcome, in between hosting Bologna in the Europa League on Thursday. Emery recently watched Sunderland ’Til I Die, the Netflix documentary taking in their journey from League One to this point, and it is worth remembering the strides Villa have taken in recent years. Equally, that does not mean Emery is immune to scrutiny.
“Circumstances” was the buzzword for Emery on Friday and, really, it is a byword for the financial rules the Villa hierarchy believe hinder clubs with naked ambition from progressing. The parameters have been compared by Villa’s senior figures to the tightening of not one but two belts. Qualifying for a European competition for the third successive season ensures another set of hurdles, with Uefa’s squad cost rule (SCR) – which limits spending at 70% of revenues – as pertinent an issue as the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules. Villa’s wages-to-revenue ratio in 2023-24, covering a 13-month period, was a league-high 91%. Villa were fined £9.5m in July for breaching SCR and agreed a “glide path” with Uefa to move in line with the rules, acutely aware the ultimate punishment is they could be kicked out of competition for repeated transgressions.
At the time Villa felt adamant they could strengthen despite the rules but it has proved trickier than envisaged. Senior players acknowledge more signings would have invigorated the squad, with Ezri Konsa, one of Villa’s most consistent players, suggesting the rules had “killed” Villa and another, Youri Tielemans, noting there is a balance to strike. “Sometimes it’s good to have new players because it brings some freshness and you get different qualities, but in my experience, when I was coming in as a new player I took some time to put the system in my body because it can take some time,” he said last month.
It may explain why so few of Villa’s bigger signings have struggled to enhance the team. Donyell Malen has made three league starts since arriving in January from Borussia Dortmund in a £20m deal, Ian Maatsen has not displaced Lucas Digne at left-back since joining for £37.5m from Chelsea – instead Digne signed a new contract this summer – and Amadou Onana, after a fast start, scoring twice in his first three matches, has been on the periphery of Villa’s success, partly owing to injury. Moussa Diaby also faded before Villa recouped their £50m outlay after a single season. Villa believe there is more to come from Evann Guessand, a £30m summer buy.
It is also worth remembering that this time last season Villa’s start was not as flawless as it seems. Villa won six of their first seven matches in all competitions but in that run Emery turned to his bench and, chiefly, Jhon Durán. The Colombia striker, on loan at Fenerbahce after leaving for the Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr in January, scored five goals in that period, four as a substitute, including three winners. Emery moved for Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio in January to quicken the pulse of his side and maybe Elliott and Sancho will yet do similar.
after newsletter promotion
Villa are only the fifth team in Premier League history not to score in their opening four league games and the first since Crystal Palace in 2017-18. Failure to score at Sunderland would make them the third team in English top-flight history not to score in their first five league games, joining Ipswich in 1970-71 and that Palace side. The dismal start eight years ago cost Frank de Boer his job and though Palace roused under Roy Hodgson, who led them to mid-table, they had to wait until after the October international break for their league first goal and victory. Emery is not under any internal pressure but the expectations are significantly greater at Villa. “Genuine expectations are now in a difficult place,” said Damian Vidagany, Villa’s director of football operations, recently.
It is too easy to blame PSR and SCR for stunting Villa’s growth, though rapid progress has meant they are, in part, victims of their own success. Some at Villa recognised a drop-off was inevitable but few predicted this season. Did Emery expect a dry spell? “We are Aston Villa, with our circumstances,” he said. “We have a lot of positive things in front of us and I’m excited to recover our consistency in the Premier League; this is the first objective. And then it is another competition: the Europa League is something so, so special for us.”
He is, of course, a Europa League specialist, having won it on a record four occasions – three years in a row with Villarreal from 2014 and more recently with Sevilla in 2021 – and it would not be a surprise if Villa dispatch Bologna on Thursday and go deep into the competition or even win it Istanbul. Monchi, Villa’s president of football operations, has a tattoo of the Europa League trophy on his left wrist to commemorate those wins with Sevilla, and Vidagany said he will follow suit if Villa triumph this season. For now, though, there are other priorities.
