View: Aston Villa 1-0 Chelsea – Unai Emery continues to show magic touch
It’s only a friendly, they’ll say. But Aston Villa’s 1-0 win against Chelsea in Abu Dhabi on Sunday could be a massive moment in Unai Emery’s settling-in period at Villa Park.
John McGinn scored the only goal of the game as the Villans stepped up their preparations for the Premier League season resuming later this month.
England crashing out of the World Cup on Saturday is a timely reminder that we’re not too far away from the return of club football, with Villa restarting their 2022/23 Premier League campaign with a tough clash against Liverpool in the West Midlands on Boxing Day.
And while Villa are still to play Villarreal before that game against Jurgen Klopp’s side, a 1-0 win over Graham Potter’s Chelsea is probably more of a litmus test as to how the second half of this campaign will go with Emery at the wheel.
Emery’s started life with a bang in the West Midlands.
The Spaniard oversaw back-to-back Premier League wins over Brighton and Manchester United prior to the World Cup break starting.
Six points from six propelled Villa up to 12th in the table, well clear of the relegation zone and just three points behind Brighton in seventh and Chelsea – Sunday’s opponents – in eighth.
It’s been a tough season for Chelsea, but to beat them in a friendly match in the UAE is still some achievement for Emery, who’s continuing to gain momentum midway through the campaign.
It was a fairly strong Villa side but there were still a number of fringe players involved, as well as youngsters Kadan Young and Arjan Raikhy, who played 45 minutes each.
Robin Olsen, Ezri Konsa, Boubacar Kamara, Cameron Archer and Marvellous Nakamba also earned run-outs as the Villans reigned supreme thanks to McGinn’s first-half goal.
Emery’s squad isn’t fully stocked right now but that’s not a bad thing.
Not only has he seen his side beat another big-six side of the Premier League but he’s also had the chance to take a good look at fringe players and youngsters who managers wouldn’t normally get to examine closely in a senior game at this time of the year.
December and January are traditionally tough months in a Premier League season.
But this hasn’t been a normal December and nor will it be a normal January.
Villa entered the one-off mid-season break in good stead though and they’ve continued to hold their momentum despite the pause in play.
It bodes well for the second half of the season when Emery properly gets his reign underway.
In other Aston Villa news, it’s time for a change for Philippe Coutinho.