Football Season Guide

No team recorded fewer league losses on home soil than Aston Villa, who won 11 of their 19 games at Villa Park last season. Yet, a defeat at Manchester United on the last matchday forced Unai Emery’s side to miss out on Champions League qualification on goal difference, ending the campaign in disappointment. Villa have not been particularly active in the transfer window despite loanees Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford parting ways with the club. While the futures of key contributors Emiliano Martinez and Ollie Watkins remain uncertain, Emery’s side have signed versatile forward Evann Guessand to beef up their attack. Meanwhile, the motto at Villa Park is ‘in Emery we trust’ after two solid campaigns at the helm. The backbone has been kept intact and should they avoid losing their key assets, they can go strong for yet another season. Depth should be added to the squad, though, in order to juggle between competitions. Villa’s main strength is their home ground. After losing at home to Crystal Palace in the EFL Cup in late October, they went unbeaten for the rest of the campaign in 21 home games across all competitions (15W, 6D) - their longest run without defeat at home since the late 1970s. What needs improvement is their scoring record on the road. Villa netted just 24 away goals last term – the fourth lowest tally among the teams that remained in the top flight.