Aston Villa got the job done on Friday night as our 2-0 win over Tottenham kept our Champions League hopes alive.
Going into the final weekend of the Premier League season, Villa will remain in contention to return to Europe’s top table, albeit we will need results elsewhere to go in our favour for it to happen.
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Nevertheless, goals from Ezri Konsa and Boubacar Kamara sealed all three points against Spurs as we managed to find a breakthrough in the second half and go on to get the desired result, and so now all of our focus switches to Manchester United at Old Trafford on the final day of the season.
All Villa can do is win our games and keep ourselves in the race, and time will tell if we get the favours required to secure a top-five finish, or if we’ll have to settle for a place in either the Europa League or Europa Conference League next year.
Emery gets his selections spot on
With Villa needing to control this game and get on the front-foot to put pressure on Tottenham and ultimately find a breakthrough, Emery opted for some important tweaks with Ian Maatsen and Pau Torres coming in to replace Lucas Digne and Tyrone Mings respectively.
Further, it was skipper John McGinn who came back into the side in place of the suspended Jacob Ramsey, and that trio were fundamental in helping us dictate tempo and possession to eventually find the all-important breakthroughs to win the game.
Emery has utilised his squad so effectively this season and made important decisions throughout the campaign, and he’ll hopefully do it once again next weekend at Old Trafford to seal another win.
Maatsen, Onana ending the season in strong fashion
It’s been a slow burn for our summer signings this year, but both Maatsen and Amadou Onana are finishing the season really well and are having an important impact on our performances and results.
Maatsen is continuing to show improvement defensively while adding a key attacking dynamic to our play with his quality down the left flank, while Onana’s physicality, athleticism and technical ability allow him to be a vital presence in both phases and to dominate in the middle of the pitch.
As with many players under Emery, it takes time for them to settle and adapt, and the signs are certainly promising that these two are setting the foundation for a great second season at the club.
Clean sheets, superb home form at fortress Villa Park
Albeit we’ve had some bitterly disappointing setbacks along the way, namely the back-to-back defeats against Manchester City and Crystal Palace in the league and FA Cup respectively, we’ve bounced back tremendously well with three consecutive clean sheets and three wins.
Further, we end the season having suffered just one defeat at home all year, setting a new club record having gone 18 home league games in a row unbeaten, while we’ve won 32 games in a single top-flight campaign, our best ever return.
It’s been a hallmark of Emery’s time at the Villa helm thus far that we’ve been excellent at Villa Park and turned it into a fortress, and long may that continue as it’s a real strength of ours in our bid to become increasingly competitive.
Emotional Martinez, Bailey spark exit concern
Much of the post-match talk centred around the emotional reactions from Emiliano Martinez and Leon Bailey after the full-time whistle, with the latter hunched over away from his teammates and taking a moment by himself, while his Argentine teammate was in tears as he left the pitch.
Speculation has since linked Martinez in particular with a potential exit this summer, and so there are fears that we could have seen him in his last appearance as a Villa player at Villa Park.
The indication is that it could be the same for Bailey, and although there is nothing official as of yet in either of their cases, it would all suggest that there is a big summer coming up for the club in the transfer market.
One down, one more to go
Although there was disappointment after Chelsea picked up a win on Friday night too, Villa did our job as all we can do is keep winning and hope one of our rivals slips up.
We head to Old Trafford on the last day of the season needing all three points, and it doesn’t have to be convincing or entertaining, we simply have to return home with a victory and see where it takes us.
This race for Champions League football has promised to go down to the wire for weeks now, and it looks as though we’re heading that way as we hope for a favourable result elsewhere to give us the opportunity to secure a top-five finish and make this another memorable season.