By John Townley
Copyright birminghammail
Unai Emery admits the start of Aston Villa’s season has felt strange but remains excited about what can be achieved this campaign. Villa have begun the league season without a win and are yet to score , following matches against Newcastle United , Brentford, Crystal Palace, and Everton. Deadline day signing Harvey Elliott ended the club’s goal drought in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night, offering some light relief. However, Aaron Hickey equalised for Brentford, who then went on to win the penalty shootout. Villa now face the challenge of playing five games in just 14 days, including two Europa League fixtures against Bologna and Feyenoord. Next up for Emery’s side is a trip to Sunderland, followed by back-to-back home league matches against Fulham and Burnley. Asked if Villa’s start to the season has felt strange, Emery admitted: “A little bit. A little bit. But keep going. I’ve had lots of [difficult] moments, even here. Three years ago we lost three matches in a row to Arsenal, Leicester and Man City. “In that moment, I was focusing on our reaction. Today is the same. We have started four matches with circumstances we had. Now we are progressively getting better, and the last two matches, I felt that progress. “Now we are working, and we are working really hard and focusing on how we are and what we have to do.” Emery added: “We are Aston Villa with our circumstances, and we were in a different moment two or three years ago. We are going to start the Europa League next week, and we have a lot of positive things in front of us. “I am excited to keep and recover consistency in the Premier League, and then there are other competitions. The Europa League is something so special for us.” Every day, the BirminghamLive football desk strive to deliver all manner of news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Aston Villa content. Our dedicated reporter John Townley – who you can follow on X by clicking here – follows Villa home and away and offers you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between. So much happens day to day and sometimes you can struggle to keep on top of the very latest updates as and when they occur – that’s why we have produced a daily newsletter which you can sign up to, for free, and which means you’ll have a round-up of the key stories land in your email inbox. Sign up to the Villa newsletter here . You can also get all your favourite content from BirminghamLive’s Villa team on WhatsApp. Click here to sign up for breaking updates about the biggest stories in and around the club. If you prefer reading our Villa stories on your phone, consider downloading the BirminghamLive app, in which you can personalise the content you see by selecting Villa as one of your designated topics. You can get it from Apple here and for Android here . Our weekly Aston Villa podcast, Claret And Blue, is also available to watch and listen on all major streaming services. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel here , while you can access the podcast on Spotify here and via Apple here .
