'They are the best team now': Villa chase title statement against Arsenal
Ollie Watkins on Aston Villa manager Unai Emery: “In games where we think we have done well, he ends up getting onto you and demands more." Pic: Nick Potts/PA Wire.
WHEN Unai Emery was appointed Arsenal manager to succeed Arsene Wenger in May 2018, he was charged with winning the Premier League title.
Tomorrow night he returns to the Emirates with the same aim, only this time it will be as the man leading Aston Villa on their own quest towards that goal.
Emery has brought his Villa side to north London before, of course, but not as genuine rivals to the title that Arsenal covet above all and one for which they are still searching under the guidance of Mikel Arteta.
Even after Villa matched a club record of 11 successive victories in their thrilling 2-1 comeback win at Chelsea on Saturday evening, Emery was still categorising his team as impostors in a race between Arsenal and Manchester City.
Victory over the leaders tomorrow night would surely change his tune?
Emery said: “If you are asking me about the match against Arsenal, that is very difficult.
“Of course we are going to analyse them and we played against them three weeks ago at home, but this is going to be a different match because in everything they are so, so strong.
“This next challenge is really the biggest challenge we will face because they are the best team now.
“They are playing fantastically in the Champions League and the Premier League. And they signed two players per position this year to be stronger and they are showing it.”
In his managerial career to date, Emery has enjoyed greater success in building a team and a club rather than inheriting one.
At Lorca Deportiva, Almeria, Valencia, Sevilla, Villarreal and now Aston Villa, he has taken a squad of willing, receptive players on a journey to fulfilment.
Promotions in Spain, Champions League qualifications, three Europa League triumphs with Sevilla, one with Villarreal.
The Villa voyage of discovery has not yet reached his stated destination of a trophy, whether that is in a cup competition at home or in Europe, or even the fabled land of a Premier League title which is now becoming visible on the horizon of their dreams.
At Spartak Moscow, Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal, Emery took over at clubs where the journey had largely been guided by another - Wenger, in Arsenal’s case.
He was unable to convince those expensively assembled squads to trust implicitly in his methods, yet the poorest statistical winning percentage of his nine-club managerial career – at Spartak – was still 46%.
At Arsenal it was 55%. Less than Arteta’s, which is 59.9%, but hardly a vast differential.
Deep inside Stamford Bridge on Saturday night, Ollie Watkins, fresh from his two goals as a substitute that beat Chelsea, offered a fascinating insight into Emery’s managerial style.
Asked what makes the current Villa side so special that they have come from behind to win five of their past six Premier League away games, Watkins said: “I just think it is the manager really.
“He works so hard and he is so focused. It is resilience, really. He sees stuff in the game and changes things at half-time.
“Chelsea were very good in the first half, but at the break he was so calm. In games where you think he is going to shout at us and get onto us, he is the opposite.
“In games where we think we have done well, he ends up getting onto you and demands more. It is down to him.
“Even though Chelsea were on top, he was very positive. He changed a few things when I came on, with Jadon (Sancho), too. He saw a tweak and it worked.”
What makes Villa’s ascent to title contenders all the more impressive is that after five matches, they were 18th, with only three points and one goal scored from their opening five league games.
There were even whispers that perhaps Emery was losing his magic touch.
Their first win of the Premier League season didn’t arrive until September 28, 3-1 over Fulham.
It took Emery and all his belief to transform his side into the winning machine they have become with 12 victories in their past 13 league games.
Watkins added: “I do think there is confidence now. It is confidence from the manager, that he believes in us is the most important thing.
“At the start of the season it was very difficult. We were losing a lot of games and things were not going our way. Now I think he really believes in us and I think he is excited for the next game.
“I didn’t have a clue about the club record. But it doesn’t surprise me with this manager. Every record he breaks, or we break, I am not surprised because it is down to him.”
Yellow cards at Stamford Bridge mean that Matty Cash and Boubacar Kamara will be suspended for the game at the Emirates.
Arsenal will have absentees, too, with Riccardo Calafiori joining fellow full-back Jurrien Timber as their latest injury victims, but as Emery was keen to point out, Arteta has two players per position at his disposal this season. Villa’s quality is not matched in quantity.
Watkins said: “Bouba and Cashy are hard to replace. We need to just keep pushing and avoid injuries and bookings like that because we need everyone to be fit and playing regularly. To miss those two is hard but we just have to focus on ourselves.”
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