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Aston Villa: Together as one under Unai Emery and dreaming of Europe
Gregg Evans
The scenes away to Leicester City felt like a changing of the times for Aston Villa.
After the entire team had surrounded match-winner Bertrand Traore to join in with a chant last heard when the winger was a popular new addition and not a player recalled to make up the numbers, those in the away end switched their focus to the boardroom.
“Mr Purslow went to Spain in a Lamborghini… brought us back a manager, super Unai Emery,” the supporters sang after the 2-1 win in reference to the chief executive’s role in selecting a manager that has got Villa dreaming big again.
Purslow did fly out to Spain to help thrash out the deal back in October as Villa’s co-owner Nassef Sawiris identified Emery, then head coach of Villarreal, as the man to put a halt to Villa’s troubles.
It followed that horrible night away to Fulham when Villa were battered 3-0 and Steven Gerrard was sacked within minutes of the final whistle inside.
At that point, relegation was a genuine fear. Villa were three points off the bottom after 11 games and the severity of the issue forced Sawiris, his co-owner Wes Edens and Purslow into action.
Gerrard was delivered the news so quickly that he had to make the coach trip back to Bodymoor Heath with the players knowing that he was no longer in a job. It was brutal but what has happened since shows Villa were right to act decisively and with clarity.
While other clubs in the division have messed around and failed to take early action, Villa decided that the poor finish to last season and the equally worrying start to this one was enough to warrant a change.
Villa made the call at the right time, giving the man they privately described as a ‘risk-free’ appointment the opportunity to work his magic.
As soon as Emery got to work, there was calm within the club that he would sort things out.
Circumstances elsewhere in the Premier League have dictated a more patient approach but after Saturday’s game with Nottingham Forest, Villa will have faced three clubs in a week (Chelsea and Leicester City) who have all sacked, considered sacking or parted ways with their manager with little time of this season remaining.
The obvious criticism of Villa is that they appointed Gerrard in the first place, but at the time, on the back of his record with Rangers, it felt like an experiment worth trying.
Only two years back in the top flight, they were not in a position to appoint a serial trophy-winner like Emery at that stage either.
This season, though, Villa made it clear to the agent Jorge Mendes that they wanted the Spaniard on board and were prepared to pay what it takes.
That he had experienced the journey to the Champions League semi-final with Villarreal, and was only left in the Europa Conference League for the following season, played into Villa’s hands. He was up for the challenge and has since put together the pieces much more quickly than planned.
The brief set out to Emery when Villa paid the £5.25million ($6.56m) release clause was to keep the club in the division and build for next season. Europe was a longer-term target but if a top-half finish could be recorded for the first time in 12 years, that would be recognised as an exceptional achievement.
Now they are motoring and in with a genuine chance of finishing in the European places.
Only league leaders Arsenal have more wins (13) than Villa (10, tied with Manchester City) since Emery was appointed.
The manager’s impact in just five months at the club suggests he was worth every penny. Villa are seventh on 44 points from 29 games and just six points behind Tottenham Hotspur in fourth: the final Champions League spot. Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester United occupy the positions in between and have games in hand. Eighth-placed Liverpool (on 43 points) have also played one game fewer than Villa.
After Forest on Saturday, Villa will face seven of the final eight games against teams in the top half.
“We can have the ambition and the motivation to be a candidate (for a top-seven finish),” Emery says. “I’m trying to use my experiences so that we are competitive. The players are trying to understand and I have to continue to be very demanding.
“But it’s still going to be very hard because Brighton are playing well and for both Liverpool and Chelsea, they know they need European football because of their size.”
In Villa’s favour are the statistics that now make for pleasant viewing.
They are on the longest run of Premier League games without failing to score (16) but have kept four clean sheets in the last six games and conceded just one goal through open play during that time.
This latest win at Leicester City had a stroke of good fortune. First, a misplaced pass found Traore who then smashed the winner into the top corner. Villa survived a late penalty scare, too, but were saved by a VAR intervention.
At Chelsea last weekend, Villa faced 27 shots at goal but somehow did not concede and the performances in some games have not been as sparkling as the results suggest.
But this was supposed to be the time to iron out some of the creases and put in the work to create an identity for next season. So many positive results were not expected and however fortunate Villa may seem on the back of this victory, there is no coincidence that they continue to win games when they put in the work and listen to Emery’s intense messages.
In the stands, there was a mixture of emotions: joy, relief, disbelief and, above all, togetherness. The next two months will show exactly how good this Aston Villa team are.
