As Aston Villa have had their best top flight season for a number of years, they’ve managed to beat the big boys and end the season near the peak of the Premier League standings. Something for the club to continue to build on for the future.
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00:00Charlie, on to Aston Villa now. Looking across their season as a whole, it's been their best
00:05top-flight season in a number of years. They've reached some fantastic heights under Unai
00:10Emery and also getting him to sign that contract as well. Looking back over this magnificent
00:17season, this magnificent run they've had, what are the standout moments for you covering
00:23Aston Villa and being involved at the club?
00:26It's been so many. It's hard to pinpoint just one really. You can talk about Europe and
00:31how it started away at Hibernian, a thrashing 5-0 win over it in Edinburgh to start that
00:37campaign and then all the group matches, the trips across the continent. League Year Warsaw
00:42was a fun one. AZ Alkmaar, you had Ajax as well. Obviously, that was a 0-0 draw away
00:47from home but then winning comfortably at Villapark against the European giants of Ajax.
00:52What an impressive performance that was. What a night that was under the lights. Just
00:56seeing all the fireworks, the European nights back at Villapark, I think were so impressive.
01:01Back in the Premier League, beating Brighton Over Albion 6-1 at the start of the season
01:04kind of set the tone for what should be an impressive year. I'm a Brighton fan myself
01:09so that wasn't a very fun one in the press box. For Villa, just a hat-trick for Oli Watkins.
01:15Going forward, the likes of Moussa Diaby, Leon Bailey, so, so impressive and they've
01:19carried that on throughout the season. But the two 1-0 wins over Arsenal and Manchester
01:25City in the same week in December, I think that's when people started to really take
01:29the club seriously. At that point, there was actually a chance to go top at Christmas.
01:33They failed to do that and then, of course, they lost the lead away at Manchester United
01:37on Boxing Day. That could have got them to the top of the Premier League. They failed
01:41to do that but I don't think they were ever real title contenders because they just didn't
01:45have the longevity and the injuries, of course, didn't help. But that's when people started
01:49to properly think, OK, Villa could get in the Champions League here and now, with one
01:53game to go, they could genuinely do it.
01:56Multiple other players have played into that fantastic attack and have been really solid
02:00at the back as well, all round. What do you think the key to that has been? Is it just
02:05the Unai Emery way of making sure that everywhere is so good and so consistent throughout the
02:11entire season?
02:12I think you hit the nail on the head, really. It's Emery's consistency and his structure
02:17and it's tempting sometimes to be a bit versatile with your tactics and changing formations,
02:21etc. But it's rare that Emery does that. He only does it if he's forced to with injuries
02:26and he's had quite a few, to say the least. I think a lot of talk has been about the likes
02:30of Man Utd and Newcastle and Chelsea with their injuries but Villa have been really
02:35hurt by it as well.
02:37Losing Tyrow Mings and Emi Buendia at the start of the season, two key players, was
02:41not ideal. Jacob Ramsey as well. Bupakar Kamara out for the rest of the season. These are
02:47very important players, starting players. So to lose them and still be in a top four
02:52battle, let alone finishing in it, is so, so impressive. That's down to Emery, his tactics,
02:56his consistency and his belief in his players and his squad.