When Unai Emery was appointed as Aston Villa’s head coach 12 months ago, the consensus from outside was that he’d propel the club up the Premier League table, but just how his side have achieved that corrects a false perception of the Spaniard’s brand of football.
At the time of Emery’s return to Premier League management, Villa fans were warned about an ‘over pragmatic’ or ‘attritional’ style which Emery had apparently deployed at Arsenal and PSG. But at Villa, doubters of Emery’s ability to get results while playing entertaining football have been proven badly wrong.This is the consequence of trusting Emery, a coach who has overseen nothing but success when he is afforded power to shape his own culture within a club. Villa have supplied him with all the tools for the job and he has repaid that trust and then some.His side have scored 17 goals in their first four home league matches this season, a figure bettered only by Manchester City in Premier League history. A win over Luton Town this weekend would extend Villa’s league winning run at home to 12 games, while in their previous 11 wins, they have scored 31 goals and conceded just five in thoseTheir tally of 19 points is their highest after nine games of a Premier League campaign for 25 years and in the 15 games they have played in all competitions, Emery’s side have scored 41 goals. Villa supporters have been spoiled.
