Aston Villa: 12th in the league, three from three in the Champions League
Aston Villa are 12th with 11 points before Fulham tonight, three from three in the Champions League. Unai Emery's season, the squad rebuild and the money.
Aston Villa are playing two seasons at the same time, and only one of them is going well.
In the Champions League they have won all three matches: 3-2 at Club Brugge, 6-0 against Fenerbahçe and 3-1 against Viking. In the Premier League they are 12th on 11 points from eight games, with three wins, two draws and three defeats, according to the BBC table. Fulham visit Villa Park at 20:00 tonight, so that position can still move.
Emery's problem
Unai Emery's side lost three of their first four league games, including 4-0 at Brighton and 1-0 at home to Arsenal. Since then the form has steadied: wins against Tottenham, Newcastle and, last Saturday, Manchester City (2-1, ending City's perfect start, with Nicolas Jackson scoring twice, per BBC Sport). Then came a 3-0 League Cup defeat at Bournemouth on Wednesday.
Who matters
- Nicolas Jackson, permanent from Chelsea for £47.5m, has four league goals.
- John McGinn, the captain, has one goal and three assists and has scored in Europe.
- Johan Manzambi, signed from Freiburg for £52m, has two goals and two assists in only 319 minutes.
- Zion Suzuki, the goalkeeper from Parma (£25.6m plus up to £4.3m in add-ons), arrived in the summer Emiliano Martínez left.
Money
Villa belong to V Sports, the investment group of Nassef Sawiris, Wes Edens and Atairos, with Sawiris as chairman. The summer was a trade as much as a rebuild. Morgan Rogers left for Chelsea at £117m, Ezri Konsa went to Arsenal and Ollie Watkins to Al-Hilal, per Wikipedia. The fees coming back in paid for Manzambi, Ibrahim Mbaye (£47m from Paris Saint-Germain), João Gomes (£34m from Wolves, plus up to £4m in add-ons) and Suzuki.
Two things temper the optimism. Villa Park's capacity is cut to 36,887 all season because the North Stand is being redeveloped. And Villa lost the UEFA Super Cup to Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 in August.
Off the pitch, the club said on Friday it would initiate legal action against pundit Jamie Carragher over comments linking Emery with Manchester United. BBC Sport reports Carragher apologised today for "clumsy and wrong" language.
What to watch next
Fulham tonight, then Barcelona away in the Champions League on Tuesday 3 November, then Manchester United away on 8 November. Villa have won all three Champions League games so far. The league table is what has to catch up.
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