Unai Emery takes over Aston Villa, who are all but relegated in November 2022. However, this strategist has never doubted the ambition of the Villa Park team. "My dream is to win a title. Aston Villa have not won a title since the 1996 League Cup. And my second goal is to qualify for the European Cup," Emery shared.
A year later, Emery had achieved half of that goal. Aston Villa have risen to 7th place in the 2022-2023 season from 16th place and have a ticket to the Europa Conference League. This is the first time they have participated in the European Cup since 2012.
And now Emery's side are making significant progress in the Premier League. The 2-1 victory over Tottenham in round 13 helped the Villa Park team squeeze into the Top 4. They have the same number of points as Liverpool, 2 points behind leaders Arsenal and 1 point behind Man City.
"I don't think about being on the rankings. It's difficult to play away but that's not an excuse," Emery warned his players.
Aston Villa are on a 13-match winning streak at home, but have an unstable record away from home. However, at Tottenham's home ground last weekend, they became strong enough to make a comeback to win. 2 goals by Pau Torres and Watkins helped Emery's team get 3 valuable points.
Striker Watkins scored his 7th goal, while Aston Villa is the team with the 2nd best attack in the Premier League this season. They have 31 goals against Newcastle and have only lost to Man City (33).
"I want to score more goals and conceded less. The challenge is to get close to the goal," Emery said. They have not achieved that with only 2 clean sheets, but their attacking power is very impressive.
It has been 25 years since the 1982 European champions failed to reach 28 points in their first 13 Premier League games. The last time (in the 1998-1999) they led the Premier League was when John Gregory was still the coach. And since 2009, Aston Villa have failed to make it into the top four of the Premier League. That said, it shows how much Aston Villa are expected at the moment.
Since returning to the Premier League, Emery has earned 77 points in just 38 games. This achievement is only behind Man City (89), Arsenal (83) and Liverpool (79). Following Emery are teams like Man United (76), Newcastle (70). And they have won 24 in that time, with only Man City (28) and Arsenal (25) being the better team.
"We are achieving our goals little by little. We are building a strong mentality. We want to compete. The first goal is to participate in the European Cup. The next step is to do something in this tournament and then the Europa League," Emery added.
Diaby, Pau Tores, Zaniolo, Tielemans and Lenglet have added strength to Aston Villa, when they moved this summer with a total value of 93 million Euros. In addition, Emery also has talents such as Kamara, Cash, Bailey, Digne, Diego Carlos, Dibu Martinez...
Aston Villa is a machine. They counter-attack, they organize well and defend deeply" - Jurgen Klopp's comment shows that Emery's army will be an interesting surprise in the Premier League this season.
