The past five years have given Villa fans several occasions to celebrate, including promotion, Premier League survival, and a return to European competition last season. Since Unai Emery’s arrival there has been a persistent feeling of positivity and an almost weekly reason to celebrate as Aston Villa has grown from strength to strength. Wins against Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Ajax have all been part of the steady upward trajectory. However, a new peak was reached this week with Villa securing a battling yet strategic win against Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Here are the Five Reasons to be Cheerful as Villans, as Emery’s team continue to gather momentum.
This is Normal
He has confidence, a superb eye for goal, a powerful strike, and now even has his own motto. To be fair to Jhon Durán, it is indeed becoming ‘normal’ to see him devastate the opposition within minutes of entering the field—and long may it continue. His body language and attitude on the pitch have shifted, with him fighting for every ball and harassing the opposition to help his teammates win possession back. While he has already successfully launched his own personal Goal of the Season competition, it is this goal against Bayern Munich that will be remembered for generations, marking Villa’s new peak in their impressive rise since Unai Emery’s arrival. While Durán will deservedly steal the majority of the plaudits, Ollie Watkins also deserves much praise for tormenting Dayot Upamecano throughout his time on the field before making way for the young Colombian.
Clean Sheet
Villa have only recorded two clean sheets this season and impressively both have come in the opening Champions League ties. While Young Boys huffed and puffed for fifteen minutes or so, there was never a huge threat on the Villa goal. The tie against German juggernauts Bayern Munich provided a far sterner challenge, which required a huge effort from the defensive unit. The performance shared many characteristics of the impressive 1-0 home wins against Manchester City and Arsenal from last season; while Villa didn’t demonstrate quite as much fluidity in possession as against City, the players did exhibit a similar belief and stubbornness defensively to keep the Germans out.
The win witnessed superb performances from Diego Carlos, Ezra Konsa, Lucas Digne, Pau Torres, Emi Martinez and the tireless Jaden Philogene. The entire back line was on-song and despite an otherwise leaky start to the new campaign, the players have set themselves a new defensive standard to adhere to heading into a huge grudge match against Manchester United.
Ruthless Unai
Over the past 18 months, this column has highlighted a couple of previous occasions where Unai Emery’s insatiable desire to win has required some ruthlessness. No action to date has highlighted this more than the double substitution of Leon Bailey. Despite the Jamaican playing against his former Bundesliga rivals, the Villa manager (along with many fans) had seen enough from his thirty three minute cameo to shelve him for another match. The decision proved the correct one as Villa regained a foothold and nineteen minutes later scored the winning goal. As for Bailey, he has had a slow start to the season but has also clearly been carrying an injury since the summer and perhaps needs some time to fully regain sharpness. His assist at Ipswich showed that he can turn a game when he is at his best, but fans can rest assured that Emery will not hesitate to look elsewhere when players aren’t performing.
High Voltage
With Villa’s biggest wins in recent decades coming at Wembley (Manchester United, Leeds in 1996 and Derby in 2019), it was truly a sight to behold to see Villa Park bursting at the seams again. Players and commentators noted that they could barely hear themselves think for large parts as a fanbase united to buoy their team to a memorable victory. Fans, again, produced an amazing tribute to Gary Shaw that was deservedly echoed in broadcasts the world over.
There is Another
We’re all familiar with Aston Villa’s record against Manchester United in the Premier League era—it’s almost like a curse. Sir Alex Ferguson’s teams tormented Villa for decades. Even more recently, against weaker United sides, Emery’s Villa have lost the last four encounters with the Red Devils. The current tally stands at 40 losses in the Premier League era. The good news, if we can call it that, is Villa aren’t the worst. Everton have been beaten 41 times by United in the Premier League era.
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