Man City went into Villa Park shorn of the services of the suspended Rodri and Grealish and came out on the short end of a 1-0 scoreline, resulting in a fourth Premier League game without a win for the first time since the 2016-17 season, Pep’s first with the club. Did Emery have an edge on his longtime rival? No. Emery’s record against Guardiola going into this one was a woeful 0W 4D 9L. We should thank Emery and Aston Villa for not only taking all three but also for exposing Man City’s soft underbelly. I can’t think of a single downside to this result.
Even if we excuse Man City’s pitiful performance on the grounds that they missed the services of Rodri, Grealish, and De Bruyne, not to mention Gündoğan, their efforts (if we can call them that) on Wednesday were, well, woeful. It wasn’t just that they lacked the leadership or contributions of those particular players; multiple others were guilty on multiple occasions (if not the entire outing) of careless, listless play. I’d go so far as to suggest that City were fortunate to come away on the short end of a scoreline that flattered them quite a bit. The damage could have been considerable. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a final scoreline of 2-0 or more.
The upshot is that Man City have slumped to fourth—but they’re still just six points off of first. Aston VIlla have climbed to third, and I can’t think of a single, solitary reason why we should worry. All the takeaways are entirely positive. We have the wind at our backs, and our rivals are listing.
Give me a minute as I check our weekend’s fixture. Let’s see here…away to—Aston Villa? This…this is less than ideal. Not only have Villa seen off the not-at-all corrupt monolith that is Man City, not only have they have now notched 14 consecutive home league wins, matching a club record dating back to 1931, but they look poised to continue in this rich vein of form. Yes, they have a handful of injuries to consider (Buendia, Mings, and Traoré missed out on Wednesday, but they’ve missed most of the season anyway), but Villa look more and impressive with each passing week.
Emery clearly has his squad’s ear, and they’re all playing his tune. We at the Arsenal might remember Emery as an overwhelmed naif, but consider the squad he inherited. I’ll toss off some names. Those of you inclined to PTSD might want to step away for the moment. You have been warned. Sokratis. Mustafi. Luiz. Guenduozi. Kolašinac. Chambers. Lacazette. Torreira. Late-stage Özil. If you’ve not yet broken into hives and/or curled up in a corner, you should bottle and sell whatever it is you’ve got. You’ll make a mint. You’ll owe we me a considerable commission, of course. I’ll have your people talk to mine. Does the name Mino Raiola mean anything to you? No? Good.
To return to reality if only for a moment, few among us would have penciled in a visit to Villa Park as a penultimate fixture. Now that Villa have sent Man City (somewhat closer) to the scrap-heap, we at our end have to face a cold, hard reality: Emery’s Villans are very much the real deal, and we’ll have to be at our very best if we’re to escape a fate similar to that which befell the Citizens.
The right hand giveth, and the left hand taketh away. So it is with Aston Villa, Yes, they defeated Man City, thereby assisting us in the title-tilt. On the other hand, they’ve arguably earned the upper hand when we pay them a visit. Lots of hands in there. Once in my life, I would like the upper hand. We now have to confront the entirely unenviable task of going into a Villa Park that has its tail up after trouncing Man City—that 1-0 scoreline flattered Guardiola’s minions by quite a lot.
It’s Scylla and Charybdis all over again. If only Odysseus were here to guide us. On the left, we have a wounded and lethargic Man City to be wary of. On the right, we have a resurgent and defiant Aston Villa to face off against. At a risk of mixing metaphors, we may have to consider who among us is the irresistible force and who is the immovable object.
Just a few days ago, it was only us, Man City, and Liverpool submitting their applications for those two spots. Let’s just say that the application pool has deepened ever so slightly.
Leon Bailey! What a handful he’s going to be!
I just know that he planned to glance his shot off of Diaz’s leg to wrong-foot Ederson, and nothing you say can change my mind.
It was only a matter of time before it was revealed that Emery was never the problem and good ownership would have remained him. He had the pedigree as he continued to prove, at our expense, in the Europa League, and now demonstrates at Villa. Could he have succeeded sooner and without the histrionics of MA, albeit with a slightly different lineup and formation, is something we may never know.
Nobody seemed to have anticipated AV to be near to top and having a chance to outstrip the “favorites”, but that scenario is now there in this six-horse (or more) race where we may see more chariots upended than in every Roman empire epic. Maybe AV is a one-hit or half-season wonder, but remember Leicester.
Lots to consider there. Is Emery succeeding because he’s not at a “big club” whose expectations are higher? Are Villa the Prem’s Sevilla/Villareal?
Back to his time at Arsenal, he inherited an unholy mess compounded by organizational failures prompted in part by the departures of Gazidis and Mslintat and the arrival of Sanllehi, the last of whom foisted Nicolas Pepe on us when Emery wanted the Prem-proven Zaha. Emery had little influence over transfer and had to make do with what he had. Could he have dealt with the pressure & expectations here if he had gotten the backing Arteta’s gotten? We’ll never know.
Back to Villa, as Emery himself put it, it’s only matchday 15. Let’s wait until matchday 30 or 32 before stating that Villa are contenders for a top four spot.
My father was a Marine on HMS Charybdis in the war. He was given home leave in Plymouth because my mother was pregnant with my sister. He left her in Chatham and when he got to Plymouth, his ship was in the Sound. Typical, he thought, first time in her home port in 2 years. She sailed that night and was sunk with a handful of survivors of Guernsey.
I don’t think it would be his fault if we did lose, a very big if, by the way, bit I might be tempted to blame you for bringing the whole thing up.
As for Emery, I wish him well in his job but I was glad to see him leave The Arsenal. Bad fit.
Emery was a sacrificial lamb, nothing more, nothing less…he’s a vastly better manager than Arteta, at least at this juncture, but his hiring made no sense whatsoever, except that we were clearly setting our sights lower, from a European footballing perspective…on the heels of Arsene’s rather contentious “firing”, combined with the “too many cooks in the kitchen” administrative approach and his lack of input, from a personnel standpoint, he was destined to fail…he deserved much better than the abuse he continually faced at the hands of those from within the dim-witted AKB ranks