The Big Kick-Off: Unai Emery’s excellence has got Aston Villa fans dreaming
Villa enter the new season with expectation levels at their highest for more than a decade.
A superb second half to the previous campaign under Unai Emery, which saw the club secure a top-half Premier League finish and a return to European competition for the first time since 2010, reignited belief among a fanbase who feared the long-term aim of challenging the top flight’s elite was at risk of disappearing.
Under Emery, ambition is alive again. Not since Villa looked to follow up a thrilling 2007-08 campaign under Martin O’Neill has a season been so eagerly anticipated.
Delivering on the promise is the challenge now facing Emery and the Spaniard could hardly have given himself a tougher first act to follow.
Villa claimed 49 points from 25 matches after he took charge at the start of November when they were perched precariously above the relegation zone, eventually leading them to a seventh-placed finish. Such form, extended across an entire season, would usually be good enough for a Champions League spot. In that light, it is easy to see why supporters might be just a tad excited.
Neither have any of Villa’s moves since the end of last season done anything to dampen the optimism. Quite the opposite.
