Aston Villa: from ‘lazy’ to title challengers
When Aston Villa was on a five-match winless run to start the Premier League season, the team looked more like a potential relegation candidate than a title contender.
Manager Unai Emery was describing his players as “lazy.” Villa’s big names—including England internationals Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers—were showing no form at all. There were major concerns about the club’s lack of activity in the summer transfer window.
How, then, to explain the position Villa finds itself in heading into its final game of 2025?
On the back of 11 straight victories in all competitions, Villa is on its best winning streak in more than a century and is being viewed as a legitimate challenger for the Premier League title.
Breaking away
Indeed, beat first-place Arsenal on Tuesday and Villa will be tied on points with the Gunners at the top of the league halfway through its campaign. They and Manchester City have broken away from the rest and are separated by three points after 18 of 38 games, with Liverpool a further seven points back in fourth place.
And Villa will not be scared of Arsenal. After all, just three weeks ago, Villa scored a last-gasp goal to defeat the leaders, 2-1, at home and keep its winning run going. That continued on Saturday with a come-from-behind 2-1 triumph against fifth-place Chelsea, secured thanks to two second-half goals by Watkins.
Much of the team’s success is being put down to Emery, the Spanish coach whose savvy tactics, well-timed substitutions and belief in his players leave no task insurmountable.
Like when Villa trailed—and was being outclassed—at Stamford Bridge at the weekend, before Watkins’ entrance off the bench.
Or when Villa twice went behind at West Ham two weeks earlier before winning, 3-2. Or when Villa went 2-0 down at Brighton on Dec. 3, only to fight back for a 4-3 victory. Two weeks before that, Villa conceded early at Leeds and rallied for a 2-1 win.
