Aston Villa saw off Chelsea in a 2-0 win on Saturday in another important step forward for Unai Emery and his players this season.
Goals from Ollie Watkins and John McGinn sealed all three points, and although we rode our luck at times and were fortunate with Chelsea’s poor finishing, we produced quality in key moments at either end of the pitch and ultimately came out on top.
READ MORE: Villa player ratings vs Chelsea: Decisive trio impress in excellent win
It’s a win that moves us up into ninth place in the Premier League table, and while it’s now in our hands to achieve our objective of finishing in the top half of the standings, it’s hoped that we can go one further and really compete for a European qualification spot.
Only Arsenal and Man City have more wins than us since Emery took charge, and given the way we’re playing and the confidence that is building, it’s hoped that we can follow up this win on Tuesday against Leicester City and continue to kick on.
Emi Martinez shows class in landmark game
In his 100th Premier League appearance for Villa, Martinez registered his 34th clean sheet and in doing so now has the most clean sheets in his first 100 league outings of any Villa goalkeeper.
A record previously held by Mark Bosnich and Brad Friedel, it was another wonderful part of the win as the Argentine showed his class throughout with a string of important saves to keep us in the game.
That’s now four clean sheets in our last five games, and that defensive solidity has undoubtedly been a major part of our upturn in form, and that starts with Martinez between the posts.
Villa defensive strength continues to build
As noted above, our defensive performances have been the foundation of our success in recent games, with four clean sheets in our last five and having conceding just one goal in that run from the penalty spot.
Emery made it clear how important it was to establish that solid base after conceding 11 goals in three games, including back-to-back 4-2 defeats at home to Leicester City and Arsenal, and so the turnaround has been so impressive.
While Martinez deserves plenty of credit, the entire team does their job off the ball and in the defensive phase. From the partnership between Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa to our full-backs putting in important shifts and our midfield working hard along with Watkins to offer protection and energy further up the pitch.
McGinn back in top form
It’s such a boost to see McGinn back in excellent form. He’s had to wait a very long time for a goal in a Villa shirt, and he was unsurprisingly delighted to get on the mark in a big win.
Beyond the quality of his goal though, he is flourishing in that role on the right side of midfield, as it not only allows him to impact the game with his tenacity and energy from a defensive perspective, but he’s given more freedom to get forward and offer an attacking threat.
We saw that with his strike that hit the crossbar in the first half and with his goal, and it’s hoped that he can continue to make a decisive contribution from midfield in the coming weeks.
Watkins continues to fire us forward
That’s now double figures for goals in each of his three seasons with us in the Premier League, and he’s bagged 10 in 27 so far this season as he looks to surpass his best tally of 14 in the 2020/21 campaign.
Although he’ll be disappointed that he snatched at an earlier chance after breaking in behind to set up a great opportunity, he showed his composure and class with his lofted finish over Kepa for our opener.
In scoring that goal, he became the first Villa player to score in five consecutive Premier League games, and his form has been instrumental in our push up the table. Beyond the goals though, he has improved various aspects of his game from his hold up play to his movement and threat right across the frontline.
Villa targeting Europe?
The initial focus for Emery after he arrived was fully on moving away from the bottom of the table and into a more comfortable position away from any sign of relegation danger.
Villa have successfully done that, and that objective then turned into finishing in the top half of the table.
We’ve put ourselves in a position to do that now too as it’s ultimately in our hands from this point forward, but can we have loftier expectations and hopes?
Emery and the players insisted after the game that it’s now all about Leicester on Tuesday, and that is absolutely the right mentality. However, when questioned about qualifying for Europe, they were all more receptive to the target, and given we’re only two points adrift of Brighton in sixth place – albeit they have two games in-hand – we’ll hopefully continue to put the pressure on and be in the conversation at the end of the season.
With Newcastle Utd, Brentford, Fulham, Tottenham, Liverpool and Brighton among others all still ahead on our fixture list, it promises to be a thrilling end to the campaign to see just how far we can go before a big summer.