Aston Villa kicked off their Premier League campaign with a 2-1 win over West Ham United at the London Stadium.
This is a huge campaign for Unai Emery and his Aston Villa players as they’ve got to juggle their domestic and Champions League commitments.
The Villans have indeed beefed up their squad ready for Europe’s elite competition, pocketing big money for Douglas Luiz and Moussa Diaby while using those funds to bring in seven new players.
Amadou Onana was one of the signings who starred against West Ham as the Belgium international opened the scoring inside four minutes and put in a complete midfield display.
Onana will be chomping at the bit to play in the Champions League and many pundits believe the draining fixture schedule could impact their league performance.
Former striker Chris Sutton anticipates a ‘difficult’ campaign for Villa while Jamie Carragher has also weighed in on his verdict.
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Jamie Carragher issues Aston Villa Champions League prediction
Speaking on Sky Sports Monday Night Football after Tottenham drew against Leicester City, Carragher and Gary Neville gave their predictions for the season.
While Neville controversially didn’t include Villa’s name in the conversation for Europe, Carragher did, with the former Liverpool defender predicting Emery’s men to finish in sixth place.
He believes the Villans will find it ‘difficult’ to compete across all fronts and gatecrash the top four once more however, he explains the main reason he placed them in sixth was because of Emery’s expertise as manager.
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“The reason why I’ve put them there (6th place), obviously they finished higher last season, I think it’ll be difficult,” Carragher said.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team outside the so-called top six ever get into the Champions League and then get in again the next season. I think it would be massive if Villa could get in there again, but what I want to say is, that the reason I’ve put them in the European positions is the manager.
“Because we said this last season and now Klopp has left, there is probably only Pep Guardiola who is a better manager than Unai Emery or has a better CV. All these younger managers coming in, foreign managers, they haven’t won the Europa League’s like he’s done.”
Emery’s experience is crucial to Villa
Emery’s experience in European competitions is invaluable. The Spanish tactician has won the Europa League four times and is a serial winner.
With Villa now excited about the Champions League, the former Arsenal manager knows what it takes to juggle matches domestically and in Europe.
He’s purposely beefed out his squad this summer to handle the hectic fixture schedule, so he can rotate his players when needed and create an environment where competition is healthy.
Of course, Villa are looking to add further bodies to their squad in the closing stages of the window but on the evidence of their win against West Ham, he has players from the bench who can make a difference.
Substitutes Jacob Ramsey, Jhon Duran and Ian Maatsen were all involved in the build-up to the winning goal, as Duran sent the away crowd into delirium.
It’s just a question of whether these players can have a similar impact on the biggest stage of them all, a question that will no doubt be answered this season.
