Unai’s track record in Europe bodes well for Aston Villa

Hyped up as one of the clubs capable of pressing for a top-four finish in the Premier League after a series of shrewd summer signings, they opened the new campaign with a 5-1 defeat at Newcastle.

Were the potential and promise provided by last term’s encouraging results after Steven Gerrard was replaced by Unai Emery just an illusion? Perhaps Villa enjoyed an extended honeymoon under the new manager but now they’re back to normal.

Fast forward eight days and hopes of a bright future have been restored by Sunday’s 4-0 annihilation of Everton in front of a joyous Holte End.

Hold those horses for just a minute though. The Toffees are shocking and are no bigger than 9/4 with Bet Victor to be relegated. Any team worth its salt should be giving them a torrid time.

So who are the real Aston Villa? They’re probably a decent team unfortunate to catch Newcastle in a rampant mood on Tyneside and it’s encouraging they wasted little time feeling sorry for themselves before taking Everton to the cleaners.

It’s early days of course but poor efforts in defeat for Manchester United and Chelsea certainly make a top-six finish a possibility for Villa, who are 7/2 with bet365 to end up in a Europa League spot.

Talking of Europe raises the question of Emery guiding the Midlands club to Europa Conference League glory.

He certainly has the track record for success having won the Europa League three times in a row with Sevilla before winning the same silverware with Villarreal and then guiding the Spaniards to the Champions League semi-finals.

In between those spells at the two La Liga clubs Emery won the domestic quadruple in France with Paris Saint-Germain and took Arsenal to the Europa League semis in his first season in charge before it all went wrong.

Emery was unfortunate to be the manager following Arsene Wenger’s outstanding tenure with the Gunners and Villa will be more patient if there is a domestic blip this season.

But his CV shows it is sensible to back Aston Villa to win the Europa Conference League at 3/1 with StarSports.

They start their journey to the final in Athens with a qualifying round Battle of Britain with Hibernian and are 11/4 with Paddy Power and Betfair to win by more than two goals in the first leg at Easter Road.

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