Unai Emery should look to implement Aston Villa formation change he dabbled with at Arsenal – here’s why
Unai Emery has to find inspiration from somewhere to stop Aston Villa’s 2025-26 season from falling apart.
Having been in the Premier League title race for so long this season, Aston Villa‘s dreams of being crowned champions are all but over.
Emery‘s side have seen a significant drop in performances and results over the last few weeks, with his side recording just one win from their last five league games.
The 2-0 defeat in the Midlands derby with Wolves last Friday stunned the Molineux and Villa Park faithful alike, and sent a clear message to Emery that something needs fixing ASAP.
Villa’s Champions League finish is now under major threat, and it’s at times like these where coaches of Emery’s standing in the game can really show their worth.
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Unai Emery should consider bringing Arsenal plan to Aston Villa
Goals have proven incredibly tough to come by for Aston Villa in recent games, with the last time they scored more than one goal in a Premier League match being against Newcastle on 25 January.
Emery’s trusty 4-2-3-1 hasn’t been serving him well in 2026, and whilst he may feel inclined to stick with this system, his pragmatism may be telling him otherwise.
During his time as Arsenal boss, particularly in the 2018-19 season, Emery deployed his Gunners side with two strikers on a number of occasions.
In that team he had two quality strikers in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, and many Arsenal fans – as reported by talkSPORT at the time – wanted to see them both play together in the side.
When he did play two up front that season, it did work well, with wins over Man United, Chelsea and two comprehensive victories over Fulham for example.
Aubameyang ended up scoring 22 league goals that year, and Lacazette 13 respectively, before Emery was eventually sacked in November 2019.
Now in the present day, Emery once again has a similar situation on his hands, this time with Ollie Watkins and Tammy Abraham.
The former is struggling for form at the moment, with no goals in his last six in all competitions, whilst the latter has two in his last three, but is still gaining Emery’s trust and working his way into the team.
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Watkins and Abraham could form deadly partnership
Both Watkins and Abraham will believe they should be leading the line for Aston Villa, so if you’re Emery, why not allow that to happen by starting them both together?
A 3-4-1-2 system could be perfect in that regard, allowing him to lean into his centre-back depth, whilst pushing the likes of Matty Cash and Ian Maatsen on into more attacking wing-back roles: ones they’re probably better suited for.
Meanwhile, Morgan Rogers can stay in his better position as the number 10, operating behind a strike partnership of Watkins and Abraham that on paper, would be a real handful for any Premier League backline.
Abraham’s height, athleticism and burst of speed could link up brilliantly with Watkins’ movement and predatory instincts in the box, giving defenders a complex puzzle to crack.
Emery surely needs to throw caution to the wind or at least be seen to be trying something different to stop the Villa rut, and a tactical tweak such as this one could be the catalyst for improvement.
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