The Premier League is starting to heat up, and with that different clubs begin to identify their struggles. Some clubs suffer from injuries to major players, others with the coach himself and their style. On the other side of the coin, one of the reasons for Aston Villa underwhelming start to their campaign is due to Europe’s most prestigious competition.
Aston Villa are currently sitting in 12th place in the Premier League so far. Albeit they are only a couple of points off of sixth place, they have certainly not been as consistent compared to last season.
Not finding wins against the likes of an extremely underwhelming Crystal Palace side, and a struggling Man United. In addition to losses against Tottenham and Chelsea, indicates that they are not coping with the newly congested fixture list.
This brings us to the question, are they struggling only due to the Champions League? Or are there other underlying issues?
What’s the problem for Villa?
Aston Villa finished in fourth place in the Premier League last season, placing over the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Newcastle United and Manchester United.
Although they were in a European competition that season, the Europa Conference League does not compete regarding the level of quality.
Already this season in the Champions League, they have faced off against German giants, Bayern Munich, while beating them in the process and Juventus as they drew 0-0 in that game.
However, there is a recurring pattern for the Premier League side, as in four out of the five games that Villa have played so far, was followed by a draw or loss in the league.
Their famous win against Bayern, was followed by a draw against Man United, win against Bologna? Draw to Bournemouth. Loss against Club Brugge? Defeat to Liverpool. The latest defeat against Chelsea was also followed by a stalemate against Juventus.
Although Villa have impressively only conceded once in European competition this season, which is the joint second least. They have also the second-worst defensive record in the top 13 in the Premier League.
We can conclude these stats above with a certain conclusion, a huge percentage of their energy goes to Tuesday/Wednesday nights. Which leaves the weekend’s games lacking in several departments.
Do Villa have a goal-scoring problem?
In addition to the issues mentioned above, Villa’s goal-scoring numbers are an element in their game that must be looked at. In the Champions League, the English side only found the back of the net on six occasions. While being outscored by the top eight in the league excluding Nottingham Forest.
Let’s dive into the details, out of the front players that Aston Villa have at their disposal, including the likes of Olie Watkins, Leon Bailey, Jhon Duran, and Morgan Rodgers. Only the English international, has scored more than five goals in the league.
Following Duran’s outstanding patch of form earlier in the season, he has not been producing the same numbers since. However, it’s well known that Unai Emery does not necessarily prioritize these attacking players, why?
On most occasions, Emery plays with four midfielders at times, with two holding more defensive midfielders sitting ahead of the back four. In addition to the likes of John McGinn and Jacob Ramsey in front of them, forming the midfield four.
This leaves Aston Villa with little wide threat, as Leon Bailey is the only natural winger at the club which leads to him being burdened with the responsibility of producing the flank creativity by himself.
To conclude, this is how Emery likes to set up, therefore what needs to improve is the output of the team in open play outside of Olie Watkins.
Summary
It will be interesting to witness how Emery will deal with the rest of the Champion League campaign as Villa are all but guaranteed to reach the next stage. What must occur is a way to find the form that they show in Europe, and transfer it into the league, as they look to avoid a poor domestic season.