Aston Villa: Unai Emery must learn from past mistakes and prioritise Premier League run-in
Unai Emery must learn from his mistakes and prioritise Aston Villa’s Premier League run-in, with Champions League qualification on the line.
Villa sit fourth in the Premier League table – though just two points clear of fifth-placed Tottenham, who have a game in hand – and have a two-legged Europa Conference League quarter-final with Ligue 1 outfit Lille to come.
Emery’s side has recently been hit hard by injuries, too – in their 4-1 defeat at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City, Villa were without a multitude of key players, including Ollie Watkins, Emiliano Martinez and Matty Cash, as well as long-term absentees such as Tyrone Mings, Emiliano Buendia and Boubacar Kamara – among others.
With the squad looking more than a little threadbare, Villa’s season looks to be at a crossroads. Finishing fourth in the Premier League and winning the Conference League would represent an outstanding season – but it may be prudent to prioritise one over the other, or risk missing out on both.
Unai Emery can draw on past experiences to negotiate Aston Villa’s run-in
Emery himself has experienced this before – most recently at his previous Premier League post at Arsenal. In the Spaniard’s first campaign in 2018/19, the Gunners finished fifth in the league – just one point off the top four and were beaten in the Europa League final, missing out on Champions League qualification as a result.
The Spanish manager has built a reputation for success in European competition and has the chance to enhance that further this term – winning the Conference League would do just that while giving Villa fans a trophy to celebrate.
However, with Champions League qualification only possible through a top-four finish, Emery must take the unglamorous but practical step of prioritising the league rather than risk running his depleted squad into the ground in pursuit of glory on both fronts.
This is particularly necessary given the difficulty of the fixtures Villa must negotiate – clashes with Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool all feature in their last seven games and Emery’s side will need to be at their best to earn the results needed to finish in the top four.
Emery himself acknowledged this after the loss against City, saying to The Athletic: “We will play a lot of matches in the next weeks.
“Starting on Saturday against Brentford and then in the Conference League with Lille. It was important to be intelligent against Man City. We prepared the match trying to win, but thinking after some players got injured.”
If a rotated side can earn passage into the Conference League semi-finals, all the better – but progression in Europe cannot come at the cost of fourth place.
In other Aston Villa news, Emery has been told to axe two players after what they did against Manchester City.
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