Aston Villa’s recent come-from-behind victory highlighted manager Unai Emery’s incredible record of turnarounds and cemented the team in contention for the Premier League title.
After Saturday’s 2-1 win over Chelsea (their 12th in 13 league games), Villa have picked up 18 points so far this season despite being out of position, more than any other team.
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And this year is not the only time the Spaniard has influenced the game with his decision-making. Over the past three seasons, Villa have picked up more points from games they lost than any other team in the Premier League, according to data firm Opta.
In the 58th minute on Saturday, with Chelsea leading 1-0 and looking set to take control, Emery decided to make three changes, bringing on Ollie Watkins and adding further attacking power in the form of winger Jadon Sancho and midfielder Amadou Onana.
Five minutes later, Watkins pounced on Morgan Rodgers’ through ball and beat Robert Sanchez inside the Chelsea goal.
Buoyed by an equalizer and a substitution, Villa looked transformed from a side that had been pushed by the hosts for most of the first hour.
In the 84th minute, Watkins, who is aiming to be in England’s World Cup squad next summer, met Youri Tielemann’s corner kick with an angled header, denying Sanchez a chance.
Asked by Sky Sports about Emery’s ability to change the course of a game, Watkins said: “He’s a tactical genius.”
The coach himself tried to sound a bit modest. Asked about Villa’s ability to turn a loss into a win, Emery said: “Of course it’s about being proud of everything we’re doing.”
He tried to keep his chances of winning the title low despite his team’s good form.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Emery said. “We feel we have very good competition. We are currently third in the league alongside two teams, Manchester City and Arsenal. It’s amazing.”
However, he said the season was only halfway through and Villa needed to show more consistency after struggling badly at the start of the season.
Villa face league leaders Arsenal in London on Tuesday.
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has had to face questions about his young side’s unimpressive statistics, which have dropped 11 points from home games in the Premier League this season, four more than any other team.
“We need to understand why we struggle a little bit to control the game when we concede goals,” the Italian told reporters.
He couldn’t help but feel disappointed that Chelsea couldn’t build up a bigger lead before Villa hit back.
“When they scored, I think we should have scored two or three goals,” Maresca said.
Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool remain in good form
Manchester City took on the challenge for the second weekend in a row and Arsenal proved undaunted, narrowly beating Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 on Saturday to kick off the festivities to remain top of the Premier League.
City won 2-1 at Nottingham Forest, briefly taking the lead with Rayan Cherki scoring and assisting.
But Arsenal continued their momentum with captain Martin Odegaard scoring his first goal of the season for Mikel Arteta’s side, just as they beat Everton after City beat West Ham United last week.
Arsenal also needed an own goal and a superb save from keeper David Raya to maintain their lead as the halfway point of the Premier League season approached.
The London side have 42 points from 18 games, while City have 40.
Odegaard opened the scoring for the Gunners in the 14th minute and it should have been a customary three points for the hosts when Georginio Rutter’s own goal made it 2-0 just after half-time from a Declan Rice corner.
But Diego Gomez’s reply against Brighton changed the tone of the match and there was a sense of relief at the final whistle as Arsenal overcame another obstacle in the title race.
“The ripple effect of a win is incredibly strong,” Arteta said of what could have been an easier win.
“It should never be 2-1, but that’s the Premier League. What I like is we have a lot of problems (but) we’re dealing with them in an unbelievable way. “Yesterday we lost Julian (Timber) and today we lost (return) in the warm-up. We lost (Caldo) Calafioli. Declan (Rice) has to play as a full-back, but you saw the performance he showed. So that’s the spirit and that’s what our players want. ”
On an emotional afternoon at Anfield, Florian Wirtz scored his first goal for Liverpool as they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1. Fans of both teams were remembering the late Diogo Jota, who died in a car accident in July.
Shortly after Ryan Gravenbirch had given them the lead, Wertz doubled Liverpool’s lead, but Wolves came back in the second half and Santiago Bueno pulled one back.
Current champions Liverpool have moved up to fourth place with 32 points, but the poor situation of bottom club Wolves continues.
They have broken the Premier League’s record for no wins in a season and have two points from 18 games, leaving them 16 points behind Nottingham Forest, who are fourth from bottom.
