Aston Villa made it 11 consecutive Premier League home wins on Sunday, with a superb 4-1 victory over West Ham Utd in another impressive display.
Goals from Douglas Luiz [2], Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey sealed the win, which in turn sees us move back up to fifth place in the Premier League table, and just two points adrift of top spot.
READ MORE: What Emery said in assessment of brilliant Villa win vs West Ham
While we’ve had disappointing results at Newcastle Utd and Liverpool, our start to the season has been hugely impressive overall given the performances and results against some top sides, and this was no different.
It was crucial we kept our momentum going from before the international break, and Unai Emery will be delighted with the three points, while continuing to set the bar higher and demand more from his players.
Douglas Luiz pivotal to Fortress Villa Park
Aside from his goals, Luiz is continuing to thrive and flourish under Emery as the heartbeat of this Villa side, with his ability to dictate and control proceedings.
His technical ability, tactical awareness and positioning as well as his vision and passing range, all make him the perfect fit for how the Villa boss wants us to play by pulling the strings and orchestrating from that fundamental position in midfield.
He evidently sees just how good the Brazilian is and continues to demand more from him as he believes there is still untapped potential, and it’s great to see Luiz add a decisive touch to his game too with his goalscoring streak.
Watkins on the mark again
Having missed a big chance early in the game, that could have knocked the Villa frontman’s confidence, as we’ve seen that happen in the past.
However, such is his confidence, belief and effectiveness under Emery, he didn’t make any mistake with his goal as he thumped a brilliant finish into the back of the net at a pivotal time in the game as we came under pressure at 2-1.
That’s now 27 goal involvements in 33 league appearances under Emery, with 18 goals and nine assists. In turn, he’s another influential figure who is thriving under the Spanish tactician.
Tactical intelligence on show from Villa players
While Emery no doubt prepares meticulously and provides the winning game-plan, it’s down to the players to execute and deliver on the pitch.
The tactical intelligence and awareness was superb on Sunday, whether it was John McGinn floating into different positions and areas of the pitch, Moussa Diaby stretching the West Ham defence with his movement or Matty Cash playing in a more advanced role with Boubacar Kamara dropping into a deeper rightback-esque role.
We were excellent in our plan to limit West Ham’s attacking threat while exposing their vulnerabilities defensively, and that was a big positive to take from the win.
Emery masterminds another thumping win
We’ve seen all the statistics dating back to when he first took charge, but the ability to come up with a winning game-plan week after week shows the class of Emery.
He is consistently delivering solutions against top opposition and getting the better of them in spectacular fashion, and it’s put us in the position we find ourselves in after nine games.
There is no doubt that he’s an elite coach both in terms of his analysis and preparation for games, but also extracting the best out of the players at his disposal on a consistent basis over a prolonged period of time now, as those at his disposal continue to improve and develop their respective games.
Character, resilience shows new side to Villa
We know the importance Emery places on control in games, through dictating possession and tempo but also through our positioning and ability to nullify the opposition’s threat.
After West Ham’s fortunate goal to make it 2-1, there was a period in which we lost our way and became sloppy and erratic, and Emery was visibly frustrated with some of the decisions being made by his players.
In the past, we would have perhaps crumbled and conceded again. Under this coach and with this ever-improving group of players though, we regrouped, settled, and wrestled back control by producing a moment of quality through Watkins.
It was an important test to see how we responded to that period as pressure was building, and it’s a sign of a top team that we came through it and found a way to regain control of the game and come away with all three points.