Aston Villa Review

There’s been an awful lot to enjoy about this season but there have been some distinctly whiffy spells too. Aston Villa are on a dodgy run in the Premier League, losing their last two at home and now dropping points after scoring the first goal at AFC Bournemouth. With the Champions League buffer shrinking, Unai Emery needs to sharpen his magic wand and start jabbing people in the eye with it. Thi...

Remember goals? Goals were great, weren’t they? Aston Villa scored one of them on Sunday but it was ruled out by the goal-hating dorks at Stockley Park. In the end, Brentford were good value for a 1-0 win at Villa Park and Villa were left to lick their wounds. It’s been a chastening few weeks for Unai Emery and his Villa team and they must respond if they’re to get their Champions League quest bac...

There’s only one podcast where you’ll find a comparison between Rugby Town’s epic 2022/23 title bottle job and an Arsenal team that almost certainly won’t do the same thing, but hey, it’s all good fun anyway. Aston Villa are now four points behind the Gunners thanks to their first away win against Newcastle United in absolutely ages, and we’d all have taken that at the start of the season. With si...

What goes up, must come down. Is that just the unavoidable truth of physical gravity or a directive from the football powers that be? Well, that depends on your outlook. Aston Villa have suddenly found themselves in a frustrating spot. Depleted by a handful of injuries to players in the same position and the expedited loanish-sale of their only back-up striker, Villa fell at home for the first tim...

The FA Cup quest goes on. Aston Villa repeated their Premier League win at Tottenham Hotspur by beating them by the same scoreline and with the same scorers in the FA Cup third round on Saturday. They took it well. This week, we talk about the FA Cup win and the draw that hadn’t happened but now has, and the strengths and weaknesses in Villa’s recent performances. Chris Nee and Steven Green also d...

This is starting to get silly. Aston Villa came from behind to beat Chelsea and claim a club record-equalling eleventh consecutive win in all competitions and stay three points from the top of the Premier League. Ollie Watkins scored twice and everybody’s happy. This week, we talk about the Chelsea win, Villa’s quest for Champions League football and their competition priorities in 2026. Chris Nee...

What’s a little bit better than nine but not quite as good as eleven? Aston Villa never beat Manchester United to win their tenth match in a row in all competitions and seventh in the Premier League, leaving them third in the table at Christmas. Yes, you read that correctly. This week, we talk about Villa overcoming the United hoodoo and Morgan Rogers being incredible, and dismiss talk of a title...

After an unscheduled week off, we’re back to hail the best football team in England. Aston Villa have won six Premier League matches in a row for the first time since the Premier League became the Premier League. It’s been a quite incredible turnaround. Villa have beaten Brighton & Hove Albion, Arsenal, Basel and West Ham United since our last (published) episode, so there’s plenty to catch up on....

Back-to-back wins for the Villa. What fun! Aston Villa beat Young Boys in the Europa League and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League to claw their way up two tables in four days. You have to say it’s lovely stuff. And sure, these weren’t pretty wins. But they don’t have to be, do they? This week, we talk about substance, style and sustainability as we review Young Boys and Wolves before p...

After an unscheduled week off, we’re back to look at the latest from Villa Park. Aston Villa defeated Leeds United in the first game back in the Premier League after the international break and Morgan Rogers was the hero of the hour. His two excellent goals secured a 2-1 win for Villa after they went behind at Elland Road and took Villa into a busy week on a high. This week, we talk about the game...

And breathe. Aston Villa move into the November international break having spent the last week beating Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Europa League and AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League. Goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez made up for his mistake against Liverpool with a pair of terrific performances and compatriot Emi Buendía established himself once and for all as a starter under Unai Emery. This week, we...

After four consecutive Premier League wins, it was a bumpy return to Earth. Aston Villa lost 2-0 at Liverpool on Saturday and our focus in this episode is their problems at both ends of the field. Goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez made the catastrophic error that put Villa on the back foot on Merseyside and Ollie Watkins is evidently struggling to get his season rolling. We discuss them both in this we...

We don’t do normal weeks, do we? Aston Villa went off to Deventer to play Go Ahead Eagles in the Europa League and deserved less than the nothing they got from a dreadful performance, then came home and shut down Erling Haaland to beat Manchester City. That’s four Premier League wins in a row with Liverpool to come next. After wins over Tottenham Hotspur and City, it’s another big test of Villa’s...

Well, what a week it’s been. Aston Villa were made the world’s most famous football club by the nation’s senior politicians. UEFA’s failure to take a stand on the participation of Israeli clubs in European competitions this season but Villa and Birmingham have been slandered to a ridiculous degree. Our football club and our city are not antisemitic. Keir Starmer has a lot to answer for and he’s no...

Two more games down. One goal scored. None in the Premier League. Two points from a possible 12 and out of the League Cup. Aston Villa are in a bit of bother, but is all lost or will Unai Emery’s minor adjustments find a way to have a major impact? They’d better, because the Europa League is about to start and the games are coming thick and fast. Time’s a-wastin’, boys. This week, we look at Villa...

It’s been a tough start to the season and Unai Emery won’t have expected to reach the international break without a goal. Aston Villa have picked up one point from their first three games and had their preparations for the most recent one, a defeat against Crystal Palace, derailed by their own goalkeeper. Given Villa’s now established difficulty in dealing with the Eagles, they could really have d...

After playing badly on day one, playing even worse on day two wasn’t really on our agenda. Shows what we know. Aston Villa were dreadful against Brentford, losing 1-0 and showing absolutely none of the positive traits that have dragged them into Europe three seasons in a row. With the transfer window coming to a close, it’s painfully obvious that Villa still have work to do. This week, we look at...

As starts to a new season go, this one sure was a beginning or something. Aston Villa kicked off the new Premier League campaign with the tamest of 0-0 draws against Newcastle United, a game so devoid of incident that even a red card for Ezri Konsa managed to be boring. Villa were not good, but a point’s a point and we’ll be laughing up the other sleeve in May if it makes the difference. Onwards a...

The new Premier League season is here. Quick! Enjoy it before VAR starts doing yellow cards! Aston Villa kick off the new league campaign against Newcastle United, with whom they share a pretty tricky summer transfer window experience in 2025 but whose fate in the market they have, so far, managed to avoid. Villa have brought in Evann Guessand since last we spoke and Marco Asensio seems like a dis...

How do we quantify a good season? Aston Villa have four cracks at success in 2025/26, participating in the Premier League, Europa League and a pair of domestic cup competitions with which they have a rich but sadly lapsed history. With qualification for the Champions League surely the ultimate goal, how far must Villa go in order to look back on the season as a win? This week, we look at four indi...

The transfer window is gradually cranking into action and it’s just as well, because pre-season friendlies are already here. Aston Villa have signed two players, sent a bunch on loan and played a friendly, so it’s fair to say things are starting to pick up in terms of transfer news and Unai Emery’s preparations for 2025/26. But where do Villa still need to strengthen and are there players they sho...

Just how good is the current squad and which players, if any, would make it into the best eleven of our lifetimes? Aston Villa have had some unbelievable players in the last 40 years. Some have won a trophy, others have taken the club into the Champions League , but how do today’s players stack up against yesterday’s legends? We can never really know. But thinking about it is as good a way as any...

Saturday again ole ole for the Aston Villa Review podcast. That’s not the plan during the season but we’re freewheelin’ because it’s the summer summer time. Aston Villa are approaching PSR D-Day and that’s the main focus of the club and supporters at the moment but we’ve been watching Liverpool’s transfer activity and considering what it means for us. We mean that indirectly, of course, although a...

Another week, another Aston Villa Review podcast, another round of ifs and buts as we try to shake off the ghosts of 2024-25. Aston Villa have been linked with a whole bunch of potential transfer targets already this summer, while possible departures are on the cards too. Emiliano Martínez is chief among those, it appears, but we don’t know until we know and we won’t know until he goes. Or somethi...

The first ever Aston Villa Review podcast Q&A episode (we think?) is here. Aston Villa seldom have a quiet week even in the summer, so the questions sent in by our listeners cover a range of topics that mesh the old and the new into a seamless tapestry of claret and blue. Nobody asked about the new adidas Samba shoes because they’ve only been released today but we asked ourselves about it anyway....