Analysis: Aston Villa’s run ends but fight for Europe far from over

Do it and those hopes of European football, dented but far from ended by yesterday’s defeat at Manchester United, can still be realised.

Spirits dampened by a first loss since February 18 were already lifted within an hour of the full-time whistle as Tottenham suffered their latest sobering collapse. At one stage Villa were close to going back above Spurs on goal difference as the goals rained in early at Anfield. Even the London club’s late comeback – and collapse again – was a reminder every team in the race is vulnerable.

A run-in which starts with Saturday’s trip to Wolves and follows with matches against Tottenham, Liverpool and Brighton means everything is still there for Villa.

“We have to win our matches,” said Unai Emery, rather matter-of-factly.

That won’t be easy but no-one, not least the head coach whose remarkable work has made the dream possible, ever suggested otherwise.

Villa will need to be better than they were here, though Emery carefully trod the line in his post-match briefing between expressing disappointment at the result and optimism at the bigger picture.

If ever a fixture was going to end a Villa unbeaten run, it was this one. The last time they had won matches in consecutive seasons at Old Trafford was 1930 and this was the only away venue, other than Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, in which they had tasted defeat since Emery took charge.

And while far from perfect, United are also much improved from the unit beaten in the same fixture last term. Their home record is the best outside the top two and no team has conceded fewer goals on their own turf. Villa, shut out for the first time under Emery, never really looked like inflicting a first defeat in front of their own supporters since Brighton won 2-1 on the season’s opening day.

Had Ezri Konsa been able to react a split-second sooner when the ball crashed into his body barely a foot from goal with just a few minutes remaining they might have nicked a point.

Yet it wouldn’t really have been deserved and the overwhelming feeling was of this being a match too far for a team who have pulled off one of the club’s best runs for years despite an ongoing lack of numbers.

Just for the first time, you wondered whether the efforts of the past two months are starting to tell on the legs of Ashley Young, Douglas Luiz and others. The returns of Matty Cash, Boubacar Kamara, Philippe Coutinho and Leon Bailey, all said to be close by Emery, feel increasingly vital. Villa haven’t found themselves behind on many occasions of late but when the boss turned and looked at the bench here in the second half as his team looked for a way back, he wasn’t exactly filled with options.

Compare that with Erik Ten Hag, who with five minutes remaining was able to replace Marcus Rashford with Anthony Martial. Villa’s final change saw the introduction of Jhon Duran, a player who though possessing huge potential is still to register 10 Premier League appearances or score a goal.

Villa's best chance, other than the one which fell to Konsa late on, saw Alex Moreno force a sharp save from David De Gea at the far post but even then, the better chance would have fallen to Ollie Watkins had the striker not slipped at the crucial moment. That rather summed up Villa’s day. They were always in the game but always just a beat off.

It was a similar story defensively. Emery has proved himself a master tactician over the past six months but he is not the only one in the division and in Ten Hag he had an opponent with an effective gameplan. Villa’s philosophy of maintaining a high line and catching the opposition offside has never looked so vulnerable as yesterday, when United looked to send the ball over the top at every opportunity into the path of multiple runners.

Still, Villa had survived until, on one of the few goal kicks Emi Martinez opted to send long, Ezri Konsa momentary lapse allowed Marcus Rashford to escape when Casemiro sent a booming header back into the visiting half. Martinez was able to save the England international’s early shot but not convincingly and Moreno could not beat Bruno Fernandes to the loose ball. The series of small errors added up to only the fourth goal Villa had conceded in 11 matches.

They were better in the second half without ever finding the quality which might have delivered an equaliser, Watkins left without a chance of note by the brilliant Victor Lindelof, who seemed to be there whichever way Villa’s top scorer tried to turn.

Watkins has now gone three matches without scoring, a relative drought by his recent standards. So good has Villa’s form been, any match they don’t win, let alone lose, feels like a huge setback. But the prize remains there to be played for.