Are Unai Emery’s days at Aston Villa numbered? | OneFootball

The Premier League season is only weeks old, but already the mood around Aston Villa has shifted from cautious optimism to growing anxiety. A dour goalless draw against Everton this weekend extended Villa’s run without a goal at the start of the campaign, leaving supporters restless and pundits questioning whether Unai Emery’s tenure is beginning to creak under pressure.

A Stuttering Start

For a club that harbours European ambitions, this is not the beginning Villa envisaged. Three consecutive European qualifications should have ushered in a sense of stability and progress. Yet, Villa’s inability to register a goal in their opening fixtures is alarming. The lack of attacking fluency was glaring against Everton, a side themselves mired in inconsistency, where Emery’s team managed possession but rarely threatened Jordan Pickford’s goal. A blunt forward line, coupled with injuries to key players, has created an early-season storm that inevitably puts a manager under scrutiny.

Supporters leaving Villa Park on Saturday could be forgiven for wondering where the next breakthrough might come from. The Premier League is unforgiving. Two or three poor performances can rapidly create a narrative of crisis, and Villa’s struggles in front of goal feed into a broader concern about whether the club is plateauing under Emery.

Villa’s transformation under Emery

To dismiss Emery’s body of work in Birmingham too quickly would, however, be short-sighted. Since arriving in November 2022, the former Arsenal and Villarreal boss has overseen a marked transformation. He guided Villa from relegation trouble to a seventh-place finish in his first season, securing European football for the first time in over a decade.

His meticulous, detail-driven approach has made Villa tactically astute and far more competitive against the league’s heavyweights. Victories over the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal, Newcastle United, and Tottenham Hotspur have illustrated Emery’s capacity to outthink opponents on big occasions.

His approach has given Villa an identity, one that thrives on structure and control. But therein lies the rub. For all their defensive shape and tactical discipline, Emery’s sides can look shackled in attack, reliant on moments rather than fluidity. That tension has become acute this season, as Villa’s attacking lines sputter without inspiration.

Financial Handcuffs

The present struggles, however, are not entirely of his making. Constraints under the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) have limited Villa’s room to manoeuvre. For a club whose ambitions are to challenge Europe’s elite, the inability to strengthen freely has left Emery with a thinner hand than his rivals. While the club’s owners, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, have demonstrated ambition, Villa have ultimately had to rein in their spending, prioritising player sales and careful recruitment rather than marquee signings. The club has been forced to sell the likes of Moussa Diaby, Jhon Duran, and Jacob Ramsey, along with other academy products, with injuries in key areas also compounding the problem. At times, Villa look like a side caught between vision and reality: a system designed for ambition, played with a squad that cannot always deliver it.

The European Specialist

And yet, if Emery possesses one quality that buys him time, it is his unparalleled record in Europe. Few managers in the modern game can match his pedigree: four Europa League titles, runs deep into continental competition with Sevilla and Villarreal, and back-to-back European qualifications with Villa.

Villa’s owners have long targeted consistent European qualification as part of their growth strategy, and Emery’s expertise in navigating such competitions makes him uniquely valuable. While Emery’s side fell short in the previous two seasons, losing in the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League to Olympiakos and being knocked out last year by eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals, Emery’s success in Europe cannot be understated. Even if domestic form falters, the Spaniard’s ability to deliver memorable European nights could preserve his standing.

Faith and Frustration

Among the fanbase, patience endures. Emery is the manager who dragged Villa back into Europe, who restored relevance and identity. There is a broad recognition that PSR, not managerial myopia, has limited the club’s evolution. The board, too, appear committed to the long game, unlikely to reach for the trigger when the project is so clearly tethered to Emery’s expertise. Sawiris and Edens are unlikely to act rashly, particularly given the lack of obvious replacements who combine tactical acumen with European pedigree.

A Critical Juncture

None of this, however, insulates Emery indefinitely. Football remains a results business, and a goal drought cannot be allowed to linger without eroding confidence both in the stands and within the dressing room. Whispers of unrest have only heightened the scrutiny. The very public Emiliano Martínez episode, with reports suggesting the goalkeeper was waiting on a deadline-day call from Manchester United that never came, followed by his conspicuous omission from the squad, has added an air of unease at precisely the wrong moment.

Emery does not need to transform Villa into a free-scoring outfit instantly, but he must quickly engineer signs of progress. A scrappy win, a breakthrough goal, or a strong European performance could shift the narrative and ease pressure. Without those, the conversation around his future will inevitably intensify, however unfair that might appear, given his broader body of work.

So, are Unai Emery’s days numbered at Aston Villa? The answer, for now, is no. His past achievements, European expertise, and residual goodwill afford him protection that many managers in his position might not enjoy. Yet, there is no escaping the fact that Villa’s start has been troubling, and the inability to score has cast an early shadow over the season.

Emery’s challenge is to recalibrate swiftly, to coax creativity from a limited squad, to lean on his tactical nous, and to remind fans why he was once heralded as one of Europe’s sharpest coaches. The deadline day additions of Harvey Elliot, Jadon Sancho, and Victor Lindelof should help Villa to stabilise themselves, and if results improve, the early-season storm will be remembered as a wobble. But if Villa’s struggles persist, the conversation around his tenure may shift from patience to inevitability.

GFN | Finn Entwistle