After a stuttering start to the season, Aston Villa face an important week before an extended international break, facing two opponents who are also struggling out of the gate.
Villa picked up their first victory last week against Club Brugge in the Champions League, but they are yet to win a Premier League game and have scored just one goal so far, headed in by Alysson in Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to Nottingham Forest.
They will take a short trip to local rivals Coventry City on Wednesday night in the Carabao Cup, before another away game against Tottenham on Saturday. While Villa have only scored one league goal, their two opponents this week are both yet to score in the Premier League at all.
These two fixtures represent an opportunity for Villa to pick up some momentum before the break, although Coventry and Spurs will be thinking the same thing.
The cup game should also give Emery a chance to rotate the squad and give valuable minutes to some players trying to find their feet. Some changes may be enforced after injuries to Ian Maatsen and Pau Torres at the weekend.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis could make his debut on Wednesday night, while the likes of Matteo Ruggeri, Alejandro Garnacho, Ibrahim Mbaye and Johan Mamzambi may start for the first time.
Joao Gomes has now served his three-match suspension and is available after a strong performance against Brugge a week ago.
Obviously it would be nice to win, but the Carabao Cup fixture is more important as a chance for those new players to show Unai Emery they are responding to his coaching, start to earn his trust and stake a claim for more playing time on the other side of the international break.
The tone of Saturday’s game will be much different, as both Villa and Spurs look to ignite their season. It will have a similar feel to the Nottingham Forest fixture, when the two sides were searching for their first Premier League victory. That will be the case again this weekend.
If there is a winner, that team will be bouncing into the break, but the loser will face a long three weeks of discourse around a ‘crisis’.
Villa won twice at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium last season, and four times since Emery arrived at the club.
He has won three of five matchups with Roberto De Zerbi, losing two, one of which was at Villa Park near the end of last season, as Villa had one eye on the Europa League semi-final second leg against Forest.
It will take time for a new squad to gel together, especially given the fact many of the new signings have missed time with injuries or suspensions.
Villa did not win any of their first five league games to start last season and turned out just fine, although they did pick up three draws. They only have one point so far, meaning anything but a win against Spurs will mean a worse start than last year.
Regardless of how this week plays out, Emery will not panic. However, another couple of negative results this week will only increase the outside noise about Villa’s rocky start, and breed more nervousness within the fanbase. It is an important week ahead.
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