Usually when a team goes far in the Europa League, League form suffers.
#AVFC win the thing and finish 4th, after the lowest net spend in the league back in the summer.
Unai Emery- pound for pound the best manager in the League and the manager of the season.
When Unai Emery took over at Aston Villa in November of 2022, they were 14th and just 3 points above the relegation zone.
They won 15 of their remaining league games to finish 7th & qualify for the UEFA Conference, from there they finished 4th in the 2023/24 season, making it into the Champions League whilst simultaneously reaching the Conference League semi-finals.
Last season, they made it to a Champions League quarter-final where they were pitted against Luis Enrique’s eventual winners PSG, only losing 5-4 on aggregate after a 3-2 second leg victory at Villa Park. They finished 6th in the Premier League, missing out on Champions League football on goal difference alone, whilst also making it to an FA Cup semi-final where they were beaten by eventual winners Crystal Palace.
This season, they are sat 4th in the Premier League with one game still to play, having guaranteed their place in next season’s Champions League with a win over Liverpool prior to the final weekend. They’ve also won the Europa League with a dominant performance over Freiburg in the final, making it five Europa Leagues triumphs for Unai Emery in just 12 years at three different clubs.
The journey he has taken them on across his 3.5 years in charge is ridiculous.
The Premier League have had that coming all season. Have encouraged a league built on set-pieces by letting everything go at corners all season, then decide in the most decisive game of the season they’ve probably been doing it wrong for the last eight months
Come Thursday remember why you’ve paid the price you have for a ticket
It wasn’t to sit there and politely applaud assuming we’d stroll through
It was to hopefully witness something special, to emulate a group stage win against Bayern and an eventual overall loss to PSG