Unai Emery settles on Aston Villa style, reinforced in PL Summer Series 2-0 win v Fulham
Aston Villa have come on leaps and bounds under the talented Unai Emery, who has guided the club into European football next season.
They will definitely find it tough as they look to compete in the Premier League and in Europe, but they have made strong headway in that regard with the signatures of Pau Torres and Moussa Diaby.
And things have also been going well on the pitch for the club so far this summer, with Aston Villa sitting top of the Premier League Summer Series with one win and one draw from their two matches.
Emery’s men firstly drew 3-3 with Newcastle United on Monday (24 July) before defeating Fulham 2-0 on Thursday (27 July), with both matches taking place in the US.
And the victory against Fulham has certainly reinforced just how the manager wants his side to play next season, with the Spaniard allowing the Cottagers to have 58.6% of possession across the 90 minutes, as per the official Premier League website.
Despite seeing just 41.4% of the ball, Villa won the match, boasting a strong shooting accuracy with three of their five shots being on target.
They finished the game with 518 touches and 406 passes, fewer than Fulham’s 681 and 563 respectively, demonstrating that Villa like to soak up the pressure before bursting forward on the counter-attack with pace and direction.
The encounter in Florida was no fluke, with similar statistics emerging from the draw with Newcastle in Philadelphia, as per the official Premier League website.
In that match, the Magpies dominated the ball with 53.6% possession compared to Villa’s 46.4%, with Eddie Howe’s men having 690 touches and 536 passes, with Emery’s side posting figures of 620 and 456 respectively.
Again, the counter-attacking was in full flow, with Villa having a huge 16 shots, eight of which were on target.
In other Aston Villa news, one pundit has predicted a Villa star to speak to his agent every day about quitting Villa Park.