4th in PL table
©IMAGO
Friday’s FA Cup clash at Stamford Bridge between Chelsea and Aston Villa was not only a tasty knock-out clash in the depths of winter, but it also stood out as a sign of how quickly things have changed in English football over the course of the last few years. In the modern era of the Premier League, few would have taken a second glance at such a tie and simply assumed that it would be an easy home win for the London club. But Chelsea were far from comfortable in front of their own fans, as Villa took the game to their hosts and even had a goal narrowly ruled out before it finished 0-0. As the tie now goes to Villa Park for a second leg, there’s little doubt that two clubs have perhaps swapped places in the Premier League pecking order.
Indeed, while Chelsea languish in ninth place in the Premier League table, Villa currently sit fourth in the English top-flight, level on points with last season’s title contenders Arsenal and three comfortable points above fifth-place Tottenham Hotspur. Such high standings were once commonplace for Chelsea fans, but now belong to the Villa Park faithful. And that’s in no small part down to the remarkable job Unai Emery has done since he took over as Aston Villa manager late last year.
Unai Emery’s Villa transformation
There’s little doubt that Villa fans have been in dreamland since Emery took over the reigns at the Birmingham club, as the Spanish tactician has quickly turned around a team that were languishing towards the bottom of the table under Steven Gerrard and dragged them into top four contention. This clear improvement on the pitch can be seen in the fact that Gerrard’s record in the Premier League as Villa manager stood at just 1.16 points per game, while Emery’s towers over his predecessor’s with an impressive 2.00 points per game. However, it isn’t just Gerrard that Emery is overshadowing. As the graphic above shows, only four managers in the English top-flight have picked up more points since Emery arrived at Villa Park or indeed have a better points per game average than the 52-year-old head coach.
Standing up to the “Big Six”
More often than not, clubs can start climbing the Premier League table pretty quickly by maximising their points against teams in the bottom half of the league, but in Emery’s case he’s truly built a team that can go toe-to-toe with the clubs they’re now rubbing shoulders with in the top four. For example, as we can see in the graphic above, when we look at Villa’s record against the traditional “Big Six” clubs in England, we see that Villa have actually wrestled more points off them than they have off the Birmingham club since Emery arrived. The Villa Park side have been particularly impressive against Tottenham (nine points from nine) and Chelsea (six points from nine), but have certainly given as good as they get against the likes of Man City (one win, one defeat) and Arsenal (one win, one defeat). In fact, if we were to narrow the Premier League down to the six clubs involved and Villa and rank them based on their record against one another this season, Villa would be top with 12 points, with Arsenal and Spurs sitting second with nine. In other words, few could deny that Villa deserve to be fighting for a top four finish this season.
How Villa run rings around their rivals in the transfer window
What’s perhaps most remarkable about Villa rising up the league table under Emery is the fact that the club haven’t had to spend huge amounts of money to get them fighting for a top four finish. Indeed, in the three transfer windows that Emery has had as Villa manager, the club have spent €130.6m on new signings – which may seem like a lot but is far less than the clubs that they’re currently rubbing shoulders with in the Premier League. In fact, when it comes to bang for their buck, few clubs in the English top-flight can rival Villa this season. As the graph above shows, which shows the difference in a club’s expenditure on new players in comparison to their league counterparts and their position in the league table, Villa are sitting comfortably nine positions higher than their transfer activity would suggest. Well above the often considered smarter clubs in the league, such as Brighton and Brentford, and most notably punching well above their weight in comparison to the traditional “top six”.
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