Aston Villa eye Europa League glory under Emery with no Spurs, Man Utd surrender | OneFootball

Despite a recent wobble in the Premier League, there is no need for Aston Villa to copy Manchester United and Tottenham. They can win the Europa League and finish fifth under Unai Emery.

Emery could probably coach the Aston Villa Under-19s to Europa League success, such is his incredible love affair with the competition.

The Spaniard is a record four-time winner of the competition and has reached five finals in total, with his sole defeat coming as Arsenal boss in 2019.

He guided Sevilla to the trophy three years in a row between 2013 and 2015 before losing with Arsenal against Chelsea, and then claimed another title with Villarreal in 2021, beating Manchester United in the final.

This is his competition. There’s just something about Emery in the Europa League.

Villa would arguably have a strong chance of winning the Europa without Emery in charge, but it’s him that gives them the edge and almost makes their title win feel inevitable.

Lille in the round of 16 was just about as tricky as they come for the Villans, who successfully navigated their first leg in France with a 1-0 victory.

A week later, Villa welcomed Lille to the Midlands after big tournament rivals Lyon were knocked out by Celta Vigo, and Premier League counterparts Nottingham Forest knocked out a very handy FC Midtjylland side that finished third in the league phase.

It’s all coming up Unai for Villa, whose status as favourites has strengthened significantly after a very productive Thursday night.

They were hardly guaranteed qualification to the quarter-finals with the score level on the night at half-time, but an elite counter-attack involving only three players, including goalkeeper Emi Martinez, doubled Villa’s aggregate lead.

After a comfortable save, Martinez produced an outstanding kick towards Jadon Sancho, who did everything perfectly, timing and weighting his pass for a rampaging John McGinn to latch onto and tuck past Berke Ozer. With four minutes remaining, Leon Bailey sealed a 3-0 aggregate victory.

McGinn’s return is significant and very well timed for Villa, whose domestic campaign has been falling by the wayside in recent weeks.

Villa, clearly challenging Bournemouth as the streakiest team in England, have lost three Premier League games in a row against top-five rivals Manchester United and Chelsea, as well as bottom club and Midlands rivals Wolves.

It’s actually only one top-flight win in seven for Emery’s side, who have three league wins in 11 in 2026.

Villa’s title challenge is absolutely over – if it was ever a thing – and they are in danger of finishing outside the Champions League places. However, you would currently back them over Chelsea, and doing better than one of them, United and Liverpool should be enough, with Brentford and Everton’s involvement in the race nothing more than a fairytale.

Sunday’s defeat at Old Trafford did not push Villa into the same position their opponents and Tottenham Hotspur were in last season, thanks largely to Chelsea being a mess, and it would be surprising to see them feel the need to completely throw in the towel domestically considering how well Emery and his players balanced the Conference League and a fourth-place finish in 2023/24.

For United and Spurs, not throwing in the towel would have been completely pointless, but not for Villa; they actually have a strong chance of winning the Europa League without embarrassing themselves in the league.

Their next four Premier League games look decent on paper as well. West Ham before the international break gives them a chance to head into three weeks on a high, before a trip to Nottingham Forest – another very winnable fixture – and matches at home to Sunderland and Tottenham, with a trip to Fulham sandwiched in between.

Villa will hope Champions League qualification is sorted by matchday 37 because Liverpool and Manchester City in their final two fixtures is far from ideal. By then, being able to completely disregard domestic football to prioritise the latter stages of the Europa League would be fantastic.

But for now, Spurs and United can keep their towels to themselves because Villa do not need one…yet.

Next up in Europe will be Bologna or AS Roma, who have gone to extra-time. Villa have beaten Bologna in European competition this and last season, with their 2025/26 win kick-starting their campaign after a dismal start. Their only meeting with Roma was in a pre-season friendly last summer.

And then we could see Villa face Nottingham Forest in the semi-finals. But that is a team throwing all of their eggs into one basket, and it’s not this competition they care about right now.

Vitor Pereira’s priorities are clear, but Emery has the experience and capability to balance the Thursday-Sunday schedule. He makes an already strong Villa side big favourites to go all the way this year.