Analysis: An ugly win but overall picture pretty for Aston Villa
The ugliest home match so far of his Villa reign was also the most satisfying for Unai Emery.
True, the Spaniard would have preferred Saturday’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace to be a little less tense in the closing stages.
But after being on the wrong side of back-to-back 4-2 thrillers in the last two matches on home turf, Emery was happy to trade style points for three points on an afternoon when there was a definite sense of his team hitting the reset button.
Aggressive yet unreliable in previous outings in front of their own supporters, this performance was an extreme version of the more measured efforts which have proven effective away from home. Villa were so careful, at times they tested the patience of the crowd to the limit.
But it doesn’t matter if the visiting goalkeeper doesn’t make a save for the first 70 minutes, when your opponents are kind enough to score for you. Palace’s only shot on target of the entire match was toward their own, Joachim Andersen getting his feet in a tangle to send Matty Cash’s 27th minute cross beyond Vicente Guaita.
Neither can you argue with results. This was Villa’s seventh win in 12 matches since Emery took charge and from being perched precariously above the relegation zone four months ago, they have edged their way into the fringes of the race for European football and are closing fast.
The gap to fifth-placed Newcastle, which stood at 15 points on New Year’s Eve, is now seven, with Villa playing four of their next five matches against teams below them in the table before hosting the Magpies next month. When Emery walked through the door, the fear was of Villa facing season-defining matches in April and May. Now, it is the hope.
Their chances will be further improved should news of the injury sustained by Boubacar Kamara be more favourable than Emery’s initial reaction suggested. The midfielder’s early exit, following a challenge from Cheick Doucoure which earned the Palace man the first of two bookings, was the one real blot on the afternoon.
Kamara might not be quite as crucial to the first XI as Emi Martinez, Ollie Watkins or Tyrone Mings but he comes immediately after those three on the list of players Emery really does not want to lose for too long.
The head coach spoke afterward of possible replacements and it is likely Leander Dendoncker will get a first extended run of starts since his £13million move from Wolves and the chance to prove he can be part of the long-term plan. His absence on Saturday for personal reasons saw Emery turn to Calum Chambers, previously player of the season at Fulham after a campaign spent in midfield, as an emergency stop-gap.
Emery also has the option of moving John McGinn into a more central role but you suspect he would rather not mess with the skipper’s rhythm. For the second week running, he was firmly in the frame for man-of-the-match honours with a driving display which also saw him deliver the afternoon’s second-most decisive pass with a defence-splitting ball to send Cash scampering clear down the right in the build-up to the goal.
The latter is the only thing still missing from McGinn’s game. This was the 46th consecutive match he has gone without finding the net for Villa, a completely befuddling statistic for a player who seems to score every time he pulls on a Scotland jersey. Yet having been granted a little more licence to attack under Emery, there are signs the goal is coming. McGinn was the first Villa player to register a shot on target when he fired straight Guaita as the match entered the final 20 minutes while a second, perhaps better chance later went begging due to an untimely slip. Frustrating as those moments might have been, the bigger picture is of a player rejuvenated after perhaps the toughest period of his Villa career.
McGinn’s misses meant a nervier finish than desired but Emery admitted his team should have been more ruthless in seeing off 10-men, the victory never looked in any serious doubt. After Wilfried Zaha had seen a fifth-minute effort ruled out by a marginal offside call, Palace recorded just five touches in the Villa box. Now winless in 10 in all competitions, they look a team heading in the opposite direction to the hosts.
The visitors’ struggles in attack perhaps clouded some of the initial post-match reaction but this was a better result than Villa will be given credit for. Patrick Vieira’s team might find winning hard yet they are also tough to beat. Five of their six matches prior to Saturday had ended in draws, none against opponents outside the top half. Villa joined Manchester United as the only to team to get the better of the Eagles in the Premier League since mid-January.
Had Watkins taken his big chance to score for the sixth successive match the win would likely have been much more comfortable and perceptions of the performance different. But while the striker’s first touch from Emi Buendia’s clever pass could not have been more perfect, the second was slightly less so as he whipped the ball inches wide of the post, most of the crowd already celebrating in expectation from whom goals have started to look inevitable.
So too have wins for Villa. They might not always be pretty but they sure are sweet.
