"I never thought about getting rich," Emery once stated in 2008 on Localia television, after leading Almeria from the second division to La Liga. That marked the first success for a coach who always believed that effort and hard work could compensate for financial limitations.

To this day, he remains true to that philosophy, transforming Aston Villa, the Premier League's lowest-spending team in the summer of 2025, into one of Europe's most notable phenomena. For the first time since 1914, the team has won 11 consecutive matches across all competitions, including eight in the Premier League. This impressive run has propelled Aston Villa past more than half of England's football elite, placing them third, just three points behind league leaders Arsenal.

Emery instructing Aston Villa players during their 2-1 comeback victory against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in Premier League matchday 18 on 26/12/2025. Photo: Reuters

Aston Villa once won the European Cup and seven top-flight titles before the Premier League era (from 1993), but they had become accustomed to living on past glories and disappointing results. However, since Emery took charge in late 10/2022, they have evolved into a serious team with a distinct identity and personality.

In three of the last four seasons, the title race has been an exclusive affair between Manchester City and Arsenal, two stable teams led by coaches Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta. This season, however, Emery's Aston Villa has quietly risen, inserting themselves into that race. "He makes all the Villa players believe they are the reincarnation of Pele," Spanish newspaper Marca quoted a source at Bodymoor Heath, Aston Villa's training ground on the outskirts of Birmingham.

Against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on 28/12 for Premier League matchday 18, the home side was "excellent" in the first half, as Emery himself described. They controlled the match, forcing Villa to retreat and allowing their opponents little comfortable possession. Joao Pedro's opening goal from a corner seemed to set the stage for a Chelsea goalfest.

Yet Aston Villa demonstrated they are a competitive team that understands how to read a game. Emery remained calm, not altering his plan out of panic; he acted like a coach in complete control on the pitch.

With three simultaneous substitutions in the 59th minute, bringing on Ollie Watkins, Jadon Sancho, and Amadou Onana, Emery turned the tide of the match. With fresh legs, Aston Villa both strengthened their midfield and increased their attacking tempo and danger in breaking through Chelsea's defense.

In the first half, Chelsea had 71% possession, 10 shots with two clear-cut chances, and an expected goals (xG) of 1,93, while Aston Villa had no shots. But after Emery's adjustments, the visitors took nine shots with eight on target, including five clear-cut chances, while Chelsea managed only three off-target shots and 53% possession.

Watkins equalized and then sealed the victory with a header from a corner. Without excellent saves from Robert Sanchez, the home side could have conceded more. "This comeback is a statement from Emery: you cannot defeat him by inertia, because if the game goes off track, he will adjust it," Marca commented.

Watkins shooting in Aston Villa's 2-1 comeback victory over hosts Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in Premier League matchday 18 on 26/12/2025. Photo: Reuters

"Unai is a tactical genius," Watkins explained after the match. "He made changes because he realized Chelsea were man-marking, but he still ensured we had more players in defense when we played long balls. When I came on in the second half, Emery put Sancho and Morgan Rogers on the wings, placing Youri Tielemans in the number 10 position. Thanks to that, we had more personnel in the central area to attack."

The obstacles Aston Villa have overcome, particularly from the end of last season when they missed out on a Champions League spot, make their current surge all the more remarkable and easy to overlook Emery's resume. He ventured into coaching at 33, leading unknown Lorca in the Spanish third division. Then, in just 18 months, Emery guided Almeria to promotion to La Liga.

Over nearly 20 years in the profession, Emery has been a successful coach: four Europa League titles, winning 11 of the 15 finals he participated in, with the highest win rate among any coach who has managed Villa, Paris Saint-Germain, or Villarreal. But he has also experienced bitter defeats, such as Paris Saint-Germain's painful comeback loss to Barcelona, or being deemed a failure at Arsenal in the post-Wenger era. All these experiences proved valuable, allowing him to find what the football industry increasingly "hoards" upon his return to England: time, stability, and a genuinely serious project with Aston Villa.

All three leading positions in the Premier League currently share a clear commonality: all are coached by Spaniards. In these clubs, the coach holds power, where everything is built around their personality and vision.

No one at Aston Villa doubts who the club's true star is. With 372 million USD, the team ranks only eighth in the Premier League for revenue, nearly 607 million USD less than Manchester City. And to compete with the giants above them, as Chief Business Officer Francesco Calvo admits, Aston Villa needs a "shortcut," and their shortcut is Emery. "He is our real added value," Calvo once told The Times.

Dean Smith, the coach who led Aston Villa to promotion from the English Championship in 2019 and laid the foundation for the current squad, agrees with that assessment. "You can see how well-coached this team is, both with and without the ball," commented Smith, now managing Charlotte FC in Major League Soccer.

Emery shouting instructions to Aston Villa players during a training session. Photo: Aston Villa FC

Emery's coaching intensity is evident in Aston Villa's high offside trap system. Under him, they consistently rank as the most effective offside trapping team in the Premier League, culminating in a full year where Aston Villa successfully trapped opponents offside 165 times, compared to second-placed Liverpool with 93 times during the same period. This current season, they still lead this statistic with 49 accurate offside traps. The image of their defense lining up seamlessly, body positions open parallel to the touchline, ready to lean towards the ball and move up and down in unison, has become an art honed on the training ground.

"Practice, practice, and practice," Emery stated in a 2023 interview. "Build spirit. Create spirit. Be demanding day after day."

The journey of ambition

The book Emery, Rise of the Villans by Spanish journalist Guillem Balague describes Emery's journey to Villa. The coach began with a drive from Valencia to Madrid, Spain, for lunch at super-agent Jorge Mendes's home with Villa co-owner Nassef Sawiris in 10/2022.

Sawiris was battling gastritis that day but felt a clear surge of energy as Emery presented his ideas. No laptop, no PowerPoint, or special effects, Emery spoke purely from passion. "The difference between Manchester City and Manchester United is not oil money, but people," he compared, then outlined his vision for a club aiming for success.

Emery disliked the long-ball, second-ball style under predecessor Steven Gerrard and immediately introduced "rondo" (piggy-in-the-middle) drills, with the goal not being one- or two-touch passing but multiple touches and secure ball retention. Emery emphasized player positioning on the field and the smallest tactical details. He brought 10 assistants and analysts, who within days installed six large analysis screens at the Bodymoor Heath training center. "I didn't come here to waste time; I came to win titles," Emery said when he met the players in the gym.

At that time, Aston Villa were 16th in the Premier League and had won only two of 11 matches under Gerrard. But by the end of the season, Emery guided the team to a seventh-place finish. In the 2023-2024 season, Aston Villa ranked fourth, securing a Champions League spot.

In the 2024-2025 season, they reached the Football Association Cup semifinals and narrowly missed eliminating Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League quarterfinals. In the final Premier League matchday, the referee made an error, disallowing Morgan Rogers' goal when the score was 0-0, contributing to Aston Villa's 0-2 loss to Manchester United. As a result, they suffered a disadvantage in goal difference, losing their Champions League ticket to Newcastle, which had a significant impact.

The loss of crucial Champions League revenue pushed Aston Villa over Financial Fair Play regulations, leading to Union of European Football Associations control measures during the summer 2025 transfer window. Consequently, the team had only about 35 million USD to spend on transfers, with winger Evann Guessand from Nice being the most significant acquisition. Aston Villa also failed to score a single goal in their first four matches, including defeats to Brentford and Crystal Palace. In the League Cup, they were also eliminated early by Brentford.

Emery getting frustrated with an Aston Villa player during an early Premier League match in the 2025-2026 season. Photo: Reuters

A 1-1 draw at Sunderland on 21/9, having led and played with a man advantage for two-thirds of the game, further darkened Aston Villa's situation. After five rounds, they were in the bottom three of the Premier League, winless and having scored only one goal. This was Emery's biggest crisis at Aston Villa. But he knew exactly what to do, in the same way.

The coach, born in 1971, instilled in his players a passion for the identity he had built since taking the helm at Villa Park three years prior: sticking to the game plan, maintaining spirit, embracing challenges, and adhering to tactical details. "Believe in ourselves, everything will change," a source from English newspaper The Times once quoted Emery.

Four days after the Sunderland draw, Aston Villa defeated Bologna in the Europa League. Three days later, they beat Fulham. And since early 10/2025, Emery's team has lost only two more matches: to Go Ahead Eagles of the Netherlands in the Europa League and to Liverpool in the Premier League.

Those close to Emery say he is an old-school coach in a positive sense: obsessed with detail, pragmatic when necessary, and believing that football wins through small advantages accumulated from daily work.

Therefore, Aston Villa's recent surge with 11 consecutive victories is not a temporary flash, but the logical outcome of a process. He still analyzes matches himself, watching them four to five times and personally editing, encoding video. "Preparing for a match is a sacred ritual, like a pilgrimage to Mecca," he recounted in Rise of the Villans. "People can criticize me as much as they like. But when it comes to analysis, no one can say anything about me."

Before loaning Marcus Rashford from Manchester United in the second half of the 2024-2025 season, Emery met privately with the English forward and encouraged him to do his own research. "Study how I coach, how demanding I am, the number of videos I present. Then, if you still want to come, you will be my player," he said.

The effort to "restart" Rashford demonstrates Emery's ability to elevate players, and perhaps his greatest strength. Emery draws players' attention to detail, such as instructing Watkins on how to position his feet like an athlete to increase acceleration, or teaching Rogers how to position himself in the "first square"—the small space in the central channel between the opponent's center-back and midfielder.

Thanks to this quality of Emery, Aston Villa has spent a net 50 million USD over three years under his leadership, and still relies on five key players remaining from Smith's era: John McGinn, Watkins, Ezri Konsa, Emiliano Martinez, and Matty Cash. Smith understands the qualities of those players who remained from his time, and believes they resonate with Emery's football philosophy. "All five had and still retain that burning desire, are highly coachable players who want to learn and constantly improve themselves," the former Aston Villa coach affirmed.

Emery's Aston Villa has recognizable characteristics. They play with discipline but without fear: able to defend deep without collapsing, but also employing a calculated high press. The midfield is the team's axis, with Boubacar Kamara and Onana providing balance, Tielemans organizing, McGinn creating personality and movement, and Rogers acting as a link between lines. And substitutes are always ready to create magic, such as the comeback victory over Chelsea on 26/12.

McGinn listening to instructions from Emery during a Premier League match. Photo: Reuters

Statistics from The Athletic indicate that no team in Europe's top five leagues has won more home matches than Aston Villa in the past three years, and no Premier League team has dropped fewer points from a winning position this season. Aston Villa does not collapse when situations turn unfavorable. They endure, reorganize, and adjust. All this stems from the head coach's philosophy: controlling emotions is also a tactic.

For Aston Villa's football CEO, Damian Vidagany, who has worked with Emery for the past 17 years, the 54-year-old coach is even the second-best manager in the Premier League, surpassed only by Pep Guardiola. "Emery has reached the highest level at every club he has managed, and now he is competing with teams that have three times the budget. People in the industry highly appreciate that," Vidagany explained.

Emery was once mocked for his heavily Spanish-accented English, famously greeting with "Good ebening." But under his leadership, Villa are welcome disruptors in a league increasingly dominated by the wealthiest clubs. The Basque coach has not forced his way in through chaos, but through a clear method and process. Emery has earned the right to sit at that table.

Hoang Thong compiled