Unai Emery marks four years at Aston Villa as City visit

Unai Emery is celebrating his fourth year in charge of Aston Villa and heading into Saturday’s home game against Manchester City with the mood firmly lifted. Emery says the result will give the side confidence, and also flags what comes next: after this match, Villa play Barcelona and then face Galatasaray on the road.

The boost is coming from Europe. Villa beat Viking 3-1, completing three wins from three and pushing to the top of the Champions League standings until a late goal left them level on nine points with holders Paris St-Germain, Liverpool, Real Madrid and Real Betis. That performance follows a 6-0 home win over Fenerbahce, and Villa Park has now produced twelve straight European home victories.

The emotions matter even more after a summer shake-up. Six starters from the Europa League final win against Freiburg left, including goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez. Among the departures were Lucas Digne, Youri Tielemans, and England trio Ollie Watkins, Ezri Konsa and Morgan Rogers—with the latter duo moving to Arsenal and Chelsea for a combined £172m, while Villa raised around £320m in total. As BBC Sport reports, Emery’s “Villa 2.0” transition is already showing.

Against Viking, Alysson shone. The 20-year-old Brazilian arrived from Gremio in January in a deal that could reach £10.4m, helped set up Villa’s second goal after winning a penalty, and delivered the cross that deflected in for Henrik Heggheim’s own goal to make it 3-0.