Aston Villa’s most pressing concern for new season already revealed by defensive numbers

Aston Villa had another campaign to remember in the 2025-26 season.

Champions League football is returning to Villa Park, following Villa's Europa League success.

However, domestically, they had also secured that qualification with their fourth-place Premier League finish.

The Villans campaign saw plenty of twists and turns including impressive runs of form as well as drop-offs at certain points too.

But one thing did remain consistent throughout the whole campaign for the B6 side.

And that is how well they were able to compete against their opponents in defensive duels.

Where Aston Villa ranked in defensive duel success last season

Football managers will always stress that you must win your individual battles in order for the team to be at their best.

However, Aston Villa did not live up to that mindset last season.

When it came to winning defensive duels, Villa were far off the pace in relation to their fellow Premier League sides.

As per Data.MB, Aston Villa finished in 20th place when it came to success in defensive duels.

Throughout the whole season, they averaged a 59.32 per cent success rate.

That is a reveal that should bring about concern in B6, and Unai Emery will certainly want to try and work on that in training.

Results may have landed for the Spaniard but he will know fine well that consistently being among the worst for winning duels will ultimately come back to haunt them at some point.

However, the Aston Villa manager is already facing issues as he looks for the solution.

How Unai Emery has been dealt blow already in solution

While Aston Villa as a whole were the worst for defensive duels, they did have one man that was the best among his peers.

Compared with every midfielder in the Premier League, Amadou Onana won the highest percentage (73.9 per cent) of defensive duels.

However, the Belgian did sustain a serious injury at the 2026 World Cup, so Emery will be without his best dueller.

And that will only compound onto the weakness that the Villa Park side had last season.

Pressure will likely fall onto the shoulders of new arrival Joao Gomes, who is known for his ability to get amongst the action.

Among players who regularly started last season, the Brazilian was involved in more defensive duels than anyone else per 90 (9.15).

And he did end up achieving a higher average than Aston Villa, with 62.78 per cent.