Unorthodox Unai: How Emery has breathed new life into ailing Aston Villa

Eleven wins out of 16 Premier League games, a flawless home record, and a club united on all fronts. If it looks and smells like a title contender, then maybe it is? Yet, despite back-to-back victories over last season’s top two last week, the general feeling in the air is that Aston Villa’s superb start to the season will eventually fade away, leaving the ‘big boys’ of Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal to do battle for English football’s greatest prize. No one can repeat the feats of Leicester City in 2015-16, can they?

Yet Villa feels like a club that has been gearing towards this point for several years. The momentum they are building, and the atmosphere being created at Villa Park, is eerily similar to that of the Foxes, but with all respect to Claudio Ranieri and the likes of Danny Drinkwater and Shinji Okazaki, Unai Emery and his charges are on a different level.

Some of the ingredients were there under previous head coach Steven Gerrard, but the Spanish tactician has inherited a burning kitchen and made a dish the likes of which Villans haven’t seen for decades. But just how has he done it, and in such a short space of time?

Emery has made seven signings since joining Villa in October 2022, with Alex Moreno and Moussa Diaby making the most instant impact, and Pau Torres and Youri Tielemans starting to stamp their authority recently after slow starts. But it’s the improvement of players already in the squad that has really been the key to Villa’s change in fortunes.

Aside from Ollie Watkins, whose dramatic upturn in form over the past 12 months has courted headlines, there has been another attacker in the goals this season - Leon Bailey.

The arrival of Diaby and the on-loan Nicolo Zaniolo in the summer looked to have pushed Bailey further down the pecking order after a couple of disappointing campaigns in claret and blue, with the Jamaica international scoring just five times in his first 51 Premier League appearances, registering six assists. This season alone, Bailey has matched that goal tally and laid on a further four for his teammates. Such form had him as the league leader for most goal contributions (goals and assists) per 90 (500+ minutes) heading into the Arsenal game on Saturday.

Bailey’s talents have been obvious for some time, but it never looked like it was going to really happen for him at Villa Park and, probably, in England. But the 26-year-old has turned his Villa career around in dramatic fashion, offering Emery another attacking weapon alongside Diaby, who has three goals and four assists in his first 16 Premier League outings. Suddenly, Villa don’t look so over-reliant on Watkins to deliver the goods, and any team wanting to go the distance needs goals from various sources.

The set-up of the midfield, meanwhile, is perhaps the most striking element under Emery, In three out of the previous five games - including the last two against Arsenal and City - Villa have lined up with four - by trade - central midfielders in Boubacar Kamara, Douglas Luiz, John McGinn and Tielemans. McGinn is the one usually tasked with moving to wide areas, especially when defending, and it is he who has undergone one of the biggest transformations.

From “sarcastic cheering” from Villa supporters in October 2022 to being dropped by caretaker boss Aaron Danks in the first game after Gerrard’s exit, McGinn is now in the form of his career under Emery, as he detailed to the Telegraph earlier this year.

The Scotland international touched on the work of two coaches - Antonio Rodriguez and Jaime Arias - who helped him work on his body shape when preparing to play on the wing. That appears to be one of the biggest differences between Gerrard and Emery. Where the former was criticised for a lack of ideas, the latter is being praised for his attention to detail and ability to improve players by introducing them to specific elements. The tactical shift has been dramatic.

As ever, the midfielders and forwards take the headlines, but the past week has highlighted the strength of Villa’s defence, too. Ezri Konsa, Diego Carlos, Torres and Lucas Digne started in front of Emiliano Martinez against City and Arsenal, keeping a clean sheet in both. The deployment of Konsa as a right-back has been the most interesting aspect, with the 26-year-old playing most of his career in the middle.

Indeed, much was made of Gerrard’s preference for a narrow midfield to allow the full-backs to bomb on and provide the width. Yet, Matty Cash - who was one of the more influential players under Gerrard - has been a substitute in the past three games.

Konsa has also - rightly - been lauded as one of the most integral elements of Villa’s rise to the top, in his regular position as a centre-back. There’s strong competition in that area now with Carlos back fit and playing alongside Torres, who performs a key role in progressing the ball from deep. But, in the long run, are Villa better off moving Konsa back into the middle and upgrading at right-back?

Meanwhile, Emery’s unorthodox approach with the defensive line has been the subject of much discussion. Before Saturday’s game, The Analyst reported that Villa’s high-line had caught opposition players offside 173 times across the Spaniard’s reign, which was 78 occasions more than any other club. That’s a staggering statistic, but it has come under the microscope from pundits who have questioned whether it can be exploited to greater effect by opposition forwards.

The big question now, with just over half a season to go, is whether Villa can legitimately mount a title challenge. Their remaining fixtures of 2023 - Brentford (A), Sheffield United (H), Manchester United (A) and Burnley (H) - certainly look enticing, and a healthy points total from those games would see them, at the very least, keep pace with the top two, Liverpool and Arsenal, who play each other during that period.

And then comes the January transfer window. Villa dipped into the market mid-season last year when a European finish still felt a long way off. In came Moreno, who had an important part to play in the second half of the season, alongside Jhon Duran, who was signed as one for the future.

With Champions League football well and truly in their sights now, do Villa stick or twist in the upcoming window? Much can be said for a settled squad but there are areas of improvement to be made, and signing new players can push the current stars on. Going back to Leicester, when they knew there was a chance of something special happening, they went out and bought two players that January - Demarai Gray and Daniel Amartey. Neither of them ended up playing a critical role, but they added competition and acted as cover.

Crucially, the Foxes managed to keep the bulk of their starting XI fit. Villa suffered major injury problems at the start of the campaign, with Tyrone Mings and Emiliano Buendia ruled out through long-term injuries. Jacob Ramsey and Moreno have also missed most of the season so far. However, the likes of Watkins, McGinn, Luiz, Kamara and Konsa have all stayed fit. Is that likely to remain the case with a potentially lengthy run in the knockout stage of the Europa Conference League, plus the start of their FA Cup journey in January? Given the current rate of injuries being sustained in the Premier League, it doesn't appear so.

Quite rightly, City (10/11), Liverpool (11/4) and Arsenal (10/3) are all heavily fancied to win the Premier League ahead of Villa (16/1). Those clubs all have much more expensively-assembled squads and the experience of winning a league title, or at least competing for one until the end. But until injuries start hitting their most integral players, it feels negligent to write off Villa from being in contention until the latter stages.

Gary Neville appears particularly bullish on their chances this season, speaking on The Gary Neville Podcast on Sunday. He said:

“What they’re doing I don’t think is just a moment. It will be difficult to sustain in the long term because of the lack of spending compared to the other clubs. [But] I think what we’re seeing at this moment in time is here to stay.”

Gary Neville

Only time will tell on the title front, but as of right now, any talk around Villa is fully justified.