Aston Villa manager Unai Emery equalled an unwanted record during the Villans’ 4-0 loss to Spurs at Villa Park on Sunday afternoon.
Aston Villa will hope that their 4-0 defeat to Tottenham was simply a bad day at the office as the race for fourth place took a sharp turn.
Unai Emery watched on as his team were rocked in front of their home fans in the second half against the Lilywhites, as James Maddison, Brennan Johnson, Heung-min Son and Timo Werner settled the direction of the three points.
Villa had the chance to go eight points clear in fourth place however, the damning defeat saw Spurs close the gap to only two points as well as having the advantage of a game in hand.
Not all hope is lost for Emery’s side, who still have 10 games to play to re-take control of the race although the Spaniard won’t forget the result quickly.
What Aston Villa’s 4-0 defeat to Spurs meant for Unai Emery
The scoreline was a difficult one for the Villans to process, with the hosts going into the game rightly full of confidence based on their away win against Spurs earlier this season and their overall form of late.
There were plenty of questions asked of Emery after the result due to his decision to switch his side’s formation, which was clearly detrimental to his players from the off.
Despite going in at halftime with the score level, Villa never looked as though they could threaten Spurs, with the second half ignited with four goals and a red card.
The dismissal of John McGinn was disappointing at 2-0 down however, it could be argued that his premature exit didn’t hugely affect the game as the visitors were simply the better side.
Losing 4-0 didn’t only mark a bad day at the office for the Villans, but also handed Emery a stain on his managerial record, with the result equalling his worst-ever home defeat as a manager.
When in charge of Spartak Moscow in 2012, the Spaniard suffered a 5-1 defeat at home to Dinamo Moscow, with the tally equalled on Sunday in what was a poor result in the race for fourth place.
Unai Emery cannot afford to make the same mistakes going forward
The manager has been the driving force behind Villa’s progression since his arrival in October 2022, where he took charge of the squad when they were sat down in 15th.
In that time, the former Arsenal boss has transformed everything at Villa Park, installing a new standard to the club and a refreshed outlook on future targets.
While the result against Spurs won’t necessarily define Villa’s season, it was a heavy defeat to suffer in a crucial fixture at this point in the campaign and most prominently, a strange time to mix up his formation.
With 10 games remaining, the four-time Europa League winner has time on his side to put things right for his side, as well as still having the chance to deliver European silverware.
All hope is not lost but Emery will hope to not steer towards another unwanted record this campaign.
