Football

Premier League team performances: a well-rounded squad demonstrates Aston Villa’s high ambitions

Unai Emery has given Aston Villa an incredible boost since his arrival and the management has made it clear that they are happy with the Spanish coach and have added to his squad according to his wishes.

Published

1 year ago

10. 8. 2023

Jirka Malý

Unai Emery By Aleksandr Osipov CC BY-SA 2.0 — Zdroj: Aleksandr Osipov, CC BY-SA 2.0

Coach

Since the arrival of the 51-year-old Spaniard, a lot of things have changed in the Premier League, especially the view of the table. If we take only the period since Emery has been the coach of Aston Villa, Manchester City have 60 points, the second highest number of points was collected by Arsenal, a total of 53, and the fifth most successful team in this regard was the Villans, when they got 49 points.

That’s saying something! Emery has used his previous Premier League experience, having led Arsenal in 78 games, to take the Birmingham side to the next level. But will he keep up the winning spirit in the new season?

Goalkeeper

Emiliano Martínez is clearly one of the key men Emery can rely on. the 30-year-old Argentine has had a terrific season and further success shouldn’t be long in coming. As long as he stays healthy, Aston Villa are well taken care of.

Defence

Martínez has, of course, been helped by an excellent defence, which has been further supplemented in pre-season by Pau Torres, who Emery pulled from his former club, Villarreal. Even the outfield players are of sufficient quality, but there is one catch, and that is the age of the players.

Of the 9 defenders, only Konsa (25 years old), Torres (26 years old) and Cash (26 years old) are younger. However, the oldest players are 30 years old, so we definitely can’t talk about anything hot. However, gradual rejuvenation will be a priority for the club.

However, it should be added that Aston Villa have only conceded 46 goals all season, which puts them in the top five, and even before the arrival of the Spanish coach the club had a league record of 21 goals conceded (14 games).

Backup

However, the midfield has a huge part to play in so few goals conceded, with no star names on the list, but several hard-working lads from whom no one name can be singled out.

In addition to these, they have now added Youri Tielemans, who joins from relegated Leicester. If none of the players leave, the centre of midfield will be very strong again, even if one or the other player gets injured.

Attack

The attacking formation was strengthened by Moussa Diaby from Leverkusen, who arrived for 55 million euros. The possible formation of Bailey – Watkins – Diaby could be lethal, especially with its speed, but there are other options as well.

Emery has other quality players who will be able to jump in. Moreover, unlike the defence, the attack, like the midfield, is well balanced in age. It is in a certain variability of several players that can be a big advantage.

Scoring goals, however, has not been Villans’ strong point, as they have lagged far behind the top teams in this respect. Of course, they made up for that with very good defending, but if Emery wants to go even higher, he needs to improve on that as well.

Aston Villa definitely have the squad to challenge for the cup places and from 5th to 8th place should be the place again. However, the competition will matter again as several top teams are undergoing big changes, which the Villans could take advantage of again.