It was hard not to feel a little for Enzo Maresca at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening. Confined to the press box as he served a touchline ban, the Chelsea boss could only watch as his opposite number, Unai Emery, made a flurry of second half substitutions that changed the game, and took all the plaudits.
If Maresca is still searching for approval that will probably never come, Emery is not. Villa and their fans and their players know what they have got in their Basque boss, who celebrated wildly on the touchline when Ollie Watkins scored the winner. ‘He is a tactical genius,’ Watkins said of his manager after the game.
Several polls of the type often conducted in the fallow news days of the festive period have nominated Emery as the manager of the season so far and as the campaign reaches its half-way point this week with Villa hot on the heels of the league leaders, few would query that judgment.
A cursory look at the competing line-ups at Stamford Bridge was enough to prove just how much Villa are punching above their weight in the league. They have fine players but, as individuals, several of their starting line-up would be considered unworthy of a place in the first elevens of the elite sides.
That distinction has been rendered meaningless, though, by the transformative effect Emery’s coaching has had on many of his charges. The standout example is Morgan Rogers, who is the form player in English top flight football, and got stronger and stronger as the game against Chelsea progressed.
Rogers won his personal duel with his friend, Cole Palmer, who faded after a promising start and looked like thunder when he was substituted in the second half. Rogers was inspirational, so, too, John McGinn. Watkins changed the game when he came on but it was Emery who timed his introduction to perfection.
Unai Emery made a flurry of second half subs for Villa that changed the game against Chelsea
Ollie Watkins scored twice from the bench and Morgan Rogers continued his hot run of form
That, as a collective, Villa have won 11 straight games in all competitions and eight successive matches in the Premier League, is a measure of the Emery effect and a tribute to a man who has become admired for his exhaustive preparation, his unrelenting work ethic, his tactical acuity and his attention to detail.
After a terrible start to their league campaign, Villa’s victory over Chelsea was their 11th in succession, equalling a club record set in September 1897 and March 1914. They have now won eight consecutive top-flight games for the first time since a run of nine between October and December 1910.
That Emery had the strength and the consistency of approach and the faith in his methods to turn things around after that start, when many were prophesying doom and saying that he had run out of steam at Villa, is another tribute to his ability and his character.
Villa have fast become the feel-good story of the season. They have not quite come from nowhere as Leicester City did when they shocked the football world by winning the title in 2015-16, but victories this season over Arsenal, Manchester United and now Chelsea have prompted many to ask whether another outsider might be about to smash the dominance of the elite.
Villa now stand just one point behind Manchester City, who are second, and three points adrift of Arsenal, Emery’s former charges. They face the next big test of their title credentials when they visit the Emirates on Tuesday evening. If they win in north London, even Emery may have to accept that they have to be counted as genuine title candidates.
Many neutrals will be rooting for him, too, not just because Villa will be underdogs but also because of the way he was patronised and ridiculed when he took over from Arsene Wenger as Arsenal manager in 2018 and forced out of the club after 18 months without being given a real chance.
Enzo Maresca sat in the press box as he served a touchline ban during Chelsea’s defeat
Emery will return to Arsenal next, where he was ridiculed after taking over from Arsene Wenger
Emery’s treatment in that period should sit on the wider conscience of English football for what it says about our insularity and our conservatism. Emery was a widely respected coach who had won three successive Europa League titles with Sevilla and the Ligue 1 title in France, with PSG, and yet he was laughed out of town in his first spell here because he could not speak English as well as many demanded.
It is testament to his strength of character, as well as his ability as a manager, that he came back for more after that bruising first spell. Villa also deserve credit for having the vision and the faith that he was an awful lot better than he was allowed to be in his cursed time at The Emirates.
Emery does not need to make a point when he goes back to Arsenal. He will be desperate to win but he does not have anything to prove. His sacking was Arsenal’s loss, even if Mikel Arteta, who replaced him, has built the Gunners back into a formidable outfit. If they had given Emery better backing, Arsenal could have got to this point earlier.
Villa were a team whose ambitions this season were supposed to be hobbled by the Premier League’s spending restrictions but Emery has proved again that sometimes, brilliant coaching and a focussed, unified club hierarchy, are more valuable than throwing money at the wall.
