“The Emery Effect: How Unai Emery Transformed Aston Villa into Premier League Powerhouses”
Few, if any, managers in world football could have matched the job Unai Emery has done at Aston Villa over the past 21 months.
Since returning to the Premier League in November 2022, Emery had a point to prove, and he’s certainly delivered. Over the 63 league matches he’s managed at Villa, he’s averaged nearly two points per game. His win rate of 54 percent is the highest in the club’s history.
During the 2022/23 season, winning 15 out of 25 league games brought Aston Villa back into European competition and set the stage for them to qualify for the Champions League last season. Only Liverpool, Manchester City, and Arsenal have accumulated more points than Villa since Emery took over in 2022, highlighting the consistency he’s brought to the team.
Until late January, Villa had gone nearly 12 months without a home league loss, staying unbeaten in 17 matches at Villa Park under Emery and winning 16 of them. The most remarkable of those victories came within days of each other when Villa defeated both Man City and Arsenal 1-0 in the span of 72 hours.
The win over City was likely the best performance I’ve seen from Villa in person. They made the Premier League and European champions look decidedly ordinary at Villa Park. Pep Guardiola even acknowledged Villa as genuine title contenders at that point in the season.