Unai Emery can celebrate his first anniversary in charge of Aston Villa on Tuesday safe in the knowledge that he has turned his team into contenders to be considered among the best of the rest. Only Manchester City – the champions and leaders – Arsenal and Liverpool have gained more wins over this period and, with Douglas Luiz continuing his unlikely conversion into a prolific goalscoring midfielder, Villa sashayed to within two points of the top.
Only Newcastle have scored more Premier League goals than Villa this autumn as they dismissed West Ham with a stylish display to reach 19 points, their best tally after nine games for 25 years. With five places in the Champions League likely to be available to the Premier League from this season, Villa could stay in the argument, though Emery is keeping a lid on his club’s ambitions.
