Why Ashley Young's message to Aston Villa fans is spot on after early-season panic
Ashley Young believes that Aston Villa fans have no need to panic after a worrying start to the season.
The Villans were left stumped after leaving Brighton with no points on the back of a 4-0 thumping by the Seagulls to start their 2026-27 Premier League campaign.
Brighton's 31-minute flurry against Villa was the fastest that a team have been 4-0 up in an opening Premier League game since Manchester United's 19-minute run-through of Fulham in 2007, which shows the severity of the defeat.
Unai Emery has lost several key players and though pre-season didn't look so bad for the B6 side, the real start to competition has left fans understandably concerned.
The Villa Park faithful will be hoping for an instant response when they host the reigning champions in Arsenal on Monday.
However, Young has pointed towards facts that should hopefully calm Aston Villa nerves when taking perspective.
Ashley Young knows Unai Emery can turn it around at Aston Villa
While speaking to Justin Talks Villa at the PFA awards which took place on Tuesday, Young explained why he has faith Emery can turn things around for the B6 side.
Young said: "It's been tough, I think it's been tough the last couple seasons. The club's come through it, you've seen the way the club has fared in the Champions League and Europe League.
"Of course, it's a tough first opening game, but when you see six players pretty much going to leave, the spine of the team, it's going to be difficult.
"Unai knows what he's going to have to do. There's no panic, Villa fans have panicked before and there's no need to panic."
Coming off the back of winning a first major European trophy since 1982, it's easy to forget the terrible start the club had last term.
The Villans failed to win each of their first six games in all competitions last season, scoring just two goals in that time before a win against Bologna changed everything.
Things started to click after the Europa League win, as four more victories were to follow in a row.
Emery then guided Villa to a historic 11-game winning run in all competitions, which propelled the club into title contention, something which no supporter would have guessed after the horrid start to the campaign.
The moral of the story is that Villa may continue to struggle in the coming weeks, but there is still exciting times ahead under Emery.
The trend Aston Villa do need to shake off as soon as possible
Emery has yet to drop below a 50 per cent win percentage in a season since arriving in B6, with the last two campaigns both sitting on an average 1.7 points per game ratio.
Villa's next game doesn't much harder than Arsenal, but they know how to get the job done against Mikel Arteta's side at Villa Park, winning four of their last seven Premier League meetings against the Gunners at home.
However, Villa haven't kept a clean sheet in seven games, including pre-season matches, something which may have been overlooked before the campaign started.
Only Brighton bettered Arsenal's three goals on the opening gameweek of the Premier League, so Emery knows where his key issue lies ahead of the showdown.