Sport
Unai Emery Shows His Class at Chelsea
Just as it appeared Aston Villa’s incredible winning run was coming to an end, Unai Emery flexed his tactical muscle. Trailing 1-0 to Chelsea, the Spaniard made three changes from the bench, introducing Ollie Watkins, Jadon Sancho and Amadou Onana. By full time, Villa were celebrating yet another victory. Their 11th in succession.
Watkins called Emery a “tactical genius” after the match. The Villa manager identified the changes that would alter the dynamic of the game at Stamford Bridge and made them. He recognised the need to push Youri Tielemens higher up the pitch and brought on Onana to help do that.
Until the triple change, Aston Villa had lacked an attacking focal point. Donyell Malan started through the middle, but had been starved of service. With Watkins on the pitch, though, the visitors were a much greater threat in the Chelsea box. He gave Villa the cutting edge they needed to turn around the match.
Sancho’s introduction was more surprising. The 25-year-old has yet to start a single Premier League match since joining Aston Villa on loan from Manchester United in the summer and hadn’t made much of an impression before coming off the bench at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
In the final half-hour of the game against Chelsea, though, Sancho was electrifying. He was the valve through the centre of the pitch for Aston Villa in quick transition, dribbling through the Chelsea press to open up space in the attacking third. Sancho was exactly what the away side needed at this specific moment of the match.
A lesser manager might not have spotted the need for Sancho, but Emery is among the best tacticians in the Premier League. He is Aston Villa’s primary difference-maker and the reason they are genuine title challengers as the 2025/26 campaign reaches the halfway point.
“To speak about the title does not make sense for us,” said Emery after the comeback win over Chelsea, brushing off suggestions that Villa could win the Premier League title this season. “Now, in December, it does not make sense. We are motivated and excited, but for the moment, we are motivated for the match.
“With three points difference between them and us, this is our motivation. With how we are performing, we can feel proud of everything we are building. Tactically, mentally, individually. We are trying to feel inside as a family, we are spending more time here than with family. The next challenge is very difficult, the most difficult challenge we can face now, because it’s the best team.”
Tuesday’s match against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium could be season-defining for Aston Villa. At the home of his previous club, Emery faces one of the most significant matches of his managerial career. A win in North London would move Villa to within a single point of Mikel Arteta’s team. It would bolster their growing title challenge.
Emery has moulded Villa around him. At Arsenal, the Spaniard was denied the opportunity to impose his own ideas and principles. He was expected to play a style of football that wasn’t his. Now, though, Emery is in complete control of Aston Villa. The club as a whole is a reflection of the manager in the dugout.
Villa have already achieved a lot under Emery. Qualification for the Champions League was a big deal, as was making the quarter-finals of the competition last season. Winning the Premier League title, though, would be the greatest triumph in the English top flight since Leicester City lifted the trophy a decade ago. Emery, more than any star player, could make it happen.
