George Overhill

Thu 3 November 2022 18:00, UK

Unai Emery deserves respect and admiration as he returns to the Premier League with Aston Villa, according to Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta.

The current Gunners manager ultimately replaced his compatriot in north London after a brief caretaker period under Freddie Ljungberg, and feels that he has benefited from not being the man to immediately succeed long-time Arsenal leader Arsene Wenger.

Emery was the one who took on that challenge, lasting 18-months in the job before being sacked, with his appointment at Villa Park now the first time he has worked in the English top flight since, after managing Villarreal in La Liga, and Arteta has talked up his suitability for the job.

Speaking ahead of his side’s Europa League game against FC Zurich he Emirates boss said, as per the Evening Standard: “Talking about Unai coming back to this league, what I feel about Unai is admiration.

“If you look at his curriculum, what he’s done in the different countries he’s been, how he’s adapted, what he’s won, I think he deserves a lot of admiration and respect for what he’s done.”

On the subject of not immediately following Wenger as Emery did he said: “Looking back, probably yeah it was helpful. I don’t know. Hopefully yes, hopefully it was the right call.”

Respect

Emery has somewhat of an unfair reputation in England after his time at Arsenal, but following on from the Frenchman who had been in charge for over two decades was always going to be an extremely tough task.

Compared to how long David Moyes lasted as Manchester United manager following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, the new Lions boss actually did pretty well, having finished a place higher than Wenger had the previous year in fifth, and reaching the Europa League final.

Villa will be hoping that the four-time winner of that European trophy will flourish on his return to England while operating in a totally different set of circumstances.

The pressure is still on however, with ambitions high and the achievements under Steven Gerrard a long way from matching them.

For the rest of this season, the first priority has to be to avoid getting dragged into a relegation battle as quickly as possible.

But with the table still relatively bunched up and the World Cup break just around the corner, if he can achieve his first objective in good time there is scope for him to belatedly get on with what was hoped for at the start of the campaign, pushing the club into the top half of the table and challenging for a European place.

He has proven throughout his career that he knows what he is doing in the Europa League, so if he can get Villa to that level he should be in his element.

In other Aston Villa news, Gabby Agbonlahor wants the manager to give the captaincy back to Tyrone Mings.