It is unbelievable how far Aston Villa has come since the beginning of the season. As incredible as it may sound, in October the team was in the relegation battle and therefore sacked their manager, Steven Gerrard.
His replacement, Unai Emery, transformed the team and even before the World Cup break, he lifted them to the middle of the table, at a safe distance from the bottom places. Since then, Villa has continued its remarkable development and is now among the most impressive teams in the English elite, and there is no doubt that credit goes to the Spanish coach.
The 3-0 victory over Newcastle, who are fighting for a top-four spot, was perhaps the most significant of the season and showed that the Birmingham-based team has no intention of slowing down. They already have a new goal, which was completely unrealistic before the start of the campaign – qualification for European competitions.
Emery’s team is in sixth place, only three points behind fifth-placed Tottenham, and if they continue to play in this way in the remaining seven rounds, they may even dream of a super-sensation with a top-four finish. The success against Newcastle was the fifth consecutive win, a series that Villa had not achieved in 25 years.
“We are in a great run and we are playing well,” said the quoted Ollie Watkins, after scoring his two goals of the season. “Everyone has confidence in their teammates, we are united, and we can’t wait for the next matches.” Whatever the team does from now on, Emery certainly deserves more attention for his work at Villa Park.
In a season of record number of managerial changes in the Premier League, there is no doubt which is the coaching appointment of the season. Emery’s Aston Villa is a completely different team from Gerrard’s Aston Villa, although they have the same players.
Here are 9 statistics that give an idea of the scale of what the Spaniard has achieved at Villa:
1. Newcastle arrived at “Villa Park” on their own series of five consecutive victories, but lost absolutely categorically.
The goal situations were 15:8 in favor of the hosts, and the shots on target were 6:2.
2. Since the beginning of the calendar year, Aston Villa has won 32 points from 15 matches – more than any other team in the English elite for this period.
Indeed, in the 2023 standings, Villa tops the Premier League table.
3. Since Emery took over the team at the beginning of November, only Arsenal has won more points in the championship.
Villa takes an average of 2.11 points per match and if it maintains this pace for an entire season, it will almost certainly make the top 4.
4. In February, Ollie Watkins became the first player in Aston Villa’s history to score in five consecutive championship matches.
The striker has scored at least one goal or assist in 11 of his last 12 matches (11 goals, 2 assists).
5. Since December, Watkins has been number two in the goals + assists category in the Premier League (15 in total), and only Erling Haaland has surpassed him (16).
But even Haaland doesn’t have that many goals this calendar year. In fact, in the top 5 leagues in Europe, only Victor Osimhen of Napoli has more goals than Watkins with his 12 goals in 2023.
6. Ollie Watkins recorded another impressive achievement.
He is the first player since Sergio Aguero in 2017 to score in six consecutive away games in the Premier League. The Villa player extended his streak to seven matches after scoring against Leicester last week. He remains lethal away from “Villa Park” and has not missed scoring a goal or assist in his last eight matches away from home. And during this streak, Villa visited Manchester United, Manchester City, and Chelsea.
7. But it’s not just Watkins who scores the goals in this team.
Since the start of the 2021/22 season, Jacob Ramsey has scored 10 goals, and among young players in the English elite (under 22), only Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli are more productive. Against Newcastle, Ramsey recorded four key passes and finished the match with a goal and an assist, as well as two intercepted passes.
8. Aston Villa has not lost in eight matches and has collected 22 out of 24 possible points in them.
Again, only Emery’s former team and current leader in the standings, Arsenal, is more convincing in the same period of time.
9. Emery’s players have four clean sheets and have only allowed one goal in the last five matches.
In these games, they scored at least two goals each.
