Danny Wright

Sat 9 December 2023 9:40, UK

Aston Villa fans don’t need to be told how well their team is doing right now.

But it will no doubt be nice for them to hear boyhood Birmingham City fan Troy Deeney doing it.

Unai Emery’s team has taken the top-flight by storm this season with the Villans securing one of the greatest victories in their Premier League history against Manchester City this week.

Not only did the Villans beat Pep Guardiola’s side, they battered them.

Leon Bailey’s 74th-minute goal won the three points that put Villa ahead of City in the league standings but stats by BBC Sport show that Emery’s men had a whopping 22 shots at goal compared to the champions’ two.

Villa kept possession fairly even too, enjoying 46 per cent of the ball throughout the match on Wednesday night as they also peppered the away side’s box with six corners to their zero.

Emery’s definitely taken a bit of a kamikaze approach to matches since becoming the Aston Villa manager over a year ago with his side conceding a lot of goals.

But they’re scoring way more and that’s down to the high press his team employs.

Premier League journalist Adrian Clarke was at Mikel Arteta’s press conference on Thursday (8 December) to talk to him about the upcoming Arsenal clash against Aston Villa and Clarke mentioned Villa’s tactical approach.

As quoted on Arsenal’s official website, Clarke said: “Pushing their back four up as high as they can, and tucking their wide players infield, Villa deliberately turn the middle third into a crowded place where it is hard to put your foot on the ball. This helps them create valuable turnovers, but holding such a high line comes with an element of risk.”

Arteta also admitted that Villa’s high press is something to be wary of.

“Tactically [Villa] are really well set up, they do two or three different things, they are really brave to play from the back,” he said. “They really attack you because they have players between the lines that can hurt you; they have players in open spaces that are constantly threatening you.”

Villa love to put teams under pressure.

But nobody expected the Villans to pressure diehard Bluenose Deeney into submission with the ex-Watford striker admitting that he’s been blown away by how well the Villa Park club has done this season.

Writing for The Sun on Saturday (8 December), Deeney said: “It is painful to listen to Aston Villa supporters crowing so much with them third in the table, but their chirpiness is well-founded.

“Because everything about Villa is thoroughly impressive right now — the team, the manager, the recruitment, the supporters.”

The current Forest Green Rovers striker added: “Every player and every supporter has faith in Emery’s defensive high line, as well as his World Cup-winning keeper Emi Martinez.

“From the full-back Lucas Digne, to midfielder Douglas Luiz, to striker Ollie Watkins — and several other players — Spaniard Emery has just totally transformed Aston Villa.”

Emery’s revolution at Villa Park has been tremendous.

Nobody in their wildest dreams would have predicted them to be above treble winners Man City on 9 December but here they are, firmly in a race to qualify for the Champions League.

In other Aston Villa news, Robbie Savage has also been forced to make an admission about the Villans.