Between August and September Unai Emery’s Aston Villa looked like a team in decline. The one with the highest average age in the English league and with the most sterile attack. The first league goal did not arrive until 21 September, a bomb from outside the area by Matty Cash which bent the Sunderland goalkeeper’s hands. At the end of that match at the Stadium of Light, which ended 1-1 despite Villa having faced them with numerical superiority for an hour of play and even taking the lead, Unai Emery was very harsh in the press conference. «We are not playing as I would like. We must recover our identity. I’m not frustrated with the results, but with how we are playing. We are not comfortable. We must try to recover our personality and our confidence. We are often lazy.” At that moment Aston Villa were third from last in the Premier League, without a win and with only one goal scored.
Now December is practically over and Aston Villa is third in the table. A peremptory climb from one side of the table to the other, thanks to an incredible winning streak made up of exciting matches, disarming comebacks, last minute goals. In all these matches, at a certain point Emery celebrated by jumping on the line at the edge of the technical area, his long hair combed back with immobile gel, his mouth wide open. After Rogers’ winning goal against Manchester United he took off his jacket to wave it like a towel. November and December were his months: he beat Guardiola’s City first and then Arteta’s Arsenal, a 2-1 score at the last second after a 10-second back-and-forth in the area until Emiliano Buendia found the right conclusion to beat Raya. An action that photographs Villa’s stubbornness in the crucial moments of the match.
Over the Boxing Day weekend, Villa consolidated third place in the table by coming from behind to beat Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge thanks to a furious brace from Ollie Watkins, a second-half substitute. Emery’s team has effectively recovered its identity and in doing so has completely changed the prospects of the season. Since September 28 they have won 12 out of 13 games in the Premier League, conceding just one defeat to Liverpool who smack of relief in their disastrous season. They are currently on a streak of eleven consecutive victories in all competitions, a record for the club that hasn’t happened since 1914. The first place in the table, occupied by Arsenal, is only 3 points away. Exactly two years ago, Aston Villa had another great December, beating both Arsenal and Manchester City in just a few days. At the time that seemed like Emery’s great masterpiece, but at the time it didn’t seem like a pretender. A twist of fate, or of the calendar, has pitted Emery’s team against Arteta’s for the last match of the year in what is now a decisive match and which will dispel some doubts.
Aston Villa have somehow become title contenders in the Premier League. We have to consider it because today it is third, two points behind Arsenal, but it is still difficult to imagine it being able to compete with aircraft carriers like the Gunners and Manchester City. The start of the season with a whole month without a goal foreshadowed a bad year and confirmed the idea that losing Rashford and Asensio was a bad blow. Looking at the xG data, Emery’s team is in over-performance. In the Premier League he scored 29 goals produced from 19.1 xG created (FBRef data) and conceded 19 in front of 24.9 xGA. Numbers that speak of a team that is maximizing everything in both phases: how long can it continue like this?
If xG does little to explain the great moment of Emery’s team, the resilient attitude of the players on the pitch does a little more. Villa approaches matches like a boxer who is good at cashing in for long stretches of the match and understanding when and how to find the knockout blow. The team’s performance changes between the first half, where they tend to go behind, and the second. Of the 29 goals scored in the Premier League, 18 came during the second half, to which 7 must be added between the thirtieth and forty-fifth minutes. There are nine goals scored by substitute players.
To find these goals we are relying above all on Morgan Rogers, the player most on the rise. This season Rogers has scored 7 goals, with two braces to beat (obviously) West Ham and Manchester United. Rogers, who is 23 years old, is a peculiar talent, perhaps of all the ones who most resemble the first Dele Alli. He knows how to receive with his back to goal in midfield and then turn and go to the man, he knows how to attack the depth with and without the ball, he is an electric and bold player who improves in finishing season after season. In England some are wondering if he could even steal Jude Bellingham’s starting place in Tuchel’s national team ahead of the World Cup.
During the first month of the championship Rogers looked like a tarnished player. Since the level of his performances returned to that of last season, Villa has turned a corner. Emery also changed his position in the Basque coach’s now trademark playing system (the 4-2-3-1 which is shaped into 4-4-2 or 4-2-4 depending on the opponent). He decided to start him wide on the left wing compared to that of the central mid-forward or attacking midfielder last year. A choice that is paying its price as Michael Cox wrote in The Athletic. At the moment, Rogers is going through one of those periods of great form where it seems he can do no wrong. If the ball comes within reach of his right foot near the penalty area, it will end up in the net, as Jonathan Wilson wrote in the Guardian.
Rodgers’ goal coming back on the right followed by the celebration he shares with his friend Cole Palmer.
Rogers’ position is the only big change in Emery’s system. Wilson questioned how completely relying on Rogers is sustainable for Emery, and just a few days later against Chelsea the Basque coach found an alternative in Ollie Watkins as a substitute. His entry changed the momentum of the match, with Villa suffering but then finding a reference to win the duels on deep attacks, as confirmed by Watkins himself after the match. «Emery changed in the second half because Chelsea played man against man, but he had an extra central defender when we played long. So when I came on in the second half he played Sancho and Rogers as wingers, and I think that gave us a bit more space, and then he put Youri (Tielemans) as the number 10, so we had an extra man up front. A tactical genius, I would say.” How many attackers praise their coach like this after being left out of the starting eleven?
Aston Villa is a close-knit team, the backbone of the squad has never changed since Emery arrived, and if they are managing everything, especially changing during the game, it is also because many players have raised their level this season. John McGinn, starting right on the opposite side of Rogers, is a prime example. The Scottish winger is the veteran of the team: he played in the Championship in 2019 and contributed to their return to the Premier League with a goal in the playoff final at Wembley against Derby County. Despite having significantly reduced his contribution in terms of goals compared to two seasons ago, he continues to collect many valuable plays in key moments of matches both in attack, such as the deep pass for Rogers’ first goal against United, and in defence: against Chelsea he made an incredible decisive defensive play, anticipating Garnacho in a slide one meter from goal, chasing Chelsea’s counterattack from his own area.
His energy is irreplaceable for Emery, like that of the other veteran, Matty Cash (who scored against both Arsenal and City). In midfield it was Boubacar Kamara who stepped up to the next level, bringing a new dose of balance to the department in both phases. Tielemans is more protected by his presence which goes well with that of Onana. Kamara is better than the others at dealing with the ball and is the main support in the center of the field to build when “Dibu” Martinez gives up the long ball.
Also noteworthy is the return to high levels of Emiliano Buendia. The Argentine attacking midfielder has finally recovered excellent physical form after the serious knee injury that caused him to miss the entire 2023/24 season. He seemed destined to leave in the summer after returning from his loan at Leverkusen but instead he is proving to be a decisive player, showing the same flashes of quality as when he wore the Norwich shirt. He scored 4 goals in the league.
Now we really need to ask ourselves the question: can Aston Villa win the Premier League?
In his own stadium he has an impeccable record. Since 25 August 2024 they have only lost twice at home, always against the same team, Crystal Palace. Making your pitch a fort is one of the essential requirements to aspire to the title in England. Consistency in results and the ability to start winning streaks is another necessary thing that Chelsea is doing. For example, Chelsea after beating Arsenal lost the next match against Leeds, frustrating the statement game against the first in the standings. Not losing pace in such a balanced championship is important. After Villa found him, you never lost pace, not even in the Europa League.
Aston Villa were an underrated team at the start of the season. But never underestimate Emery. That the Basque coach with the same squad and the same playing principles is able to compete for the same positions as Arteta and Guardiola cannot be too surprising. Only 8 months ago Aston Villa was about to accomplish the feat against PSG by playing a great quarter-final in the Champions League. How would the story have gone if Pacho hadn’t been on the line to block Maatsen’s shot in full injury time in the return match to avoid extra time in a heated Villa Park?
Today, after a great Champions League played last season, Villa seems more aware of their strength. Now they will face Arteta’s team without Kamara and Cash, who are suspended. Two important pieces in Emery’s tactical chessboard, but which coach can best deal with difficult situations?
In the match program distributed at Villa Park for the match on 6 December against Arsenal, he had written a note for the fans: “We must remain humble. Many people who put us in the fight for the title in August today thought we were a finished team.” While Emery, pragmatic and who seems to start the same phrases that Massimiliano Allegri uses in Italy – “better to win five games in a row 1-0 than one 5-0” “The words about the title race are empty until April or May” – insists on the fact that it is too early to talk about a possible fight for the title, Arteta has no doubts: «They are also there for the title. Look at what they are doing and how consistent they have been, what Unai has done with the club. So I think they fully deserve this recognition.”
For the opening match of the season against Newcastle, the choreographed turn at Villa Park depicted Emery and the players framed by the words “No limits to our dreams”. There are no limits to our dreams. In 2026 we will see if there really are limits.
