Five Reasons to be Cheerful as Villa’s League Buffer Shrinks
With the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea starting to string wins together, four points from twelve is exactly the kind of return that Villa needed to avoid after opening up a comfortable cushion in third place. That lead now looks somewhat slender after a disappointing return, and in games that Unai Emery would have been expecting to win. After two more points were dropped at the weekend, here are the latest five reasons to be cheerful as Villans.
Top Five
Villa’s large buffer from a few weeks ago has diminished, but in reality, that was the benefit of having one in the first place. Dreams of finishing above Arsenal and Manchester City were just that, with the true threat inevitably lurking beneath. Even without the injuries sustained, a bad patch was more than likely to manifest at some point during the season, and boy has it. Two consecutive home defeats and a draw at Bournemouth end the relentless flow of victories from November and December.
What happens next is either what normally happens under Emery, which is a return to winning ways, or alternatively, a more frustrating grind to the finish line akin to the 23/24 campaign.
Despite the slump in form, the gap to sixth-placed Liverpool is still a hefty eight points, and while Manchester United and Chelsea have closed the gap, the new manager’s bounce will wear off at some point too. With the UEFA coefficients currently suggesting five Champions League spots will be up for grabs in the Premier League, the time has come for Villa to move on from the shock of consecutive injuries and get back to winning ways.
Plan B
If all else fails, Villa can go back to the Plan B of the start of the season – the Europa League. With two-legs against PAOK, Red Star Belgrade, Lille OSC, or Celta Vigo in the last 16, Villa will be quietly confident of reaching the quarter-finals. Yes, we may end up having to take care of Donyell Malen and his Roma boys later on, but hopefully the return of John McGinn and Youri Tielemans by then, will help. Unai Emery would certainly be fancying his chances of a fifth Europa League trophy and a route back into the Champions League.
Match Day Revamp
The away match at Bournemouth certainly offered more options off the bench, even if it wasn’t enough to snatch a win on this occasion. The return of injured Ross Barkley into Villa’s war-torn midfield was a welcome boost, and the returns of Leon Bailey and Tammy Abraham from Roma certainly provided Emery with more flexibility. While we wait for the return of McGinn and Tielemans, at least Villa has a match-day squad with options to get through the next few weeks.
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Home Comfort
After back-to-back home league defeats to Everton and Brentford, the next three matches allow the players a chance at repairing the fortress of Villa Park. Visits from three teams all experiencing mixed fortunes in recent weeks – Brighton, Newcastle (FA Cup), and Leeds – are the perfect opportunity to show some ‘bouncebackability’, to quote Iain Dowie.
Villa Life is Good
As frustrating as the recent weeks have been for Villa fans, if you were told after the first five winless games of the season, Villa would sit in third place in the Premier League after the next 20 games, eight points above Liverpool in sixth, whilst finishing second in the Europa League without ever really breaking into a sweat, you’d be one happy Villan. There’s also the bonus of another potential FA Cup run.
Life is good for Villa, and hopefully the next couple of weeks will go a long way to making sure it stays that way.
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