Unai Emery appointed new Aston Villa head coach

According to the announcement, Unai Emery has been appointed as the next head coach of Aston Villa. This decision follows their 3-0 defeat to Fulham earlier in the week, which led to Steven Gerrard’s dismissal from his position. The Lions acted swiftly to replace Gerrard by bringing in former Arsenal manager Emery to the Premier League.

Emery had a contract with Villarreal that was due to expire in 2023. However, despite this, the 50-year-old quickly emerged as a leading candidate to replace Gerrard at Villa Park. Subsequently, he ended his tenure with Villarreal to join Aston Villa.

Emery notably led Villarreal to victory in the 2020–21 Europa League, where they defeated Manchester United in the final on penalties. Additionally, Villarreal had an impressive run to the semifinals of the Champions League last season. However, in the 2021–22 La Liga campaign, they finished a disappointing seventh, and Emery leaves the club in the same position after 11 games this season.

As a manager, Emery leaves Villarreal having overseen 132 games, winning 66, losing 35, and drawing 35. His most recent victory with Villarreal was a 2-1 win over Almeria in La Liga.

Emery previously served as Arsene Wenger’s successor at Arsenal for the 2018–19 season. He had managerial stints at Lorca Deportiva, Almeria, Valencia, Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, and Paris Saint–Germain before joining Arsenal. Emery’s tenure at Arsenal started positively, with the Gunners winning 11 consecutive games between August and October and going 22 games unbeaten until facing difficulties.

Despite Arsenal finishing fifth in the 2018–19 Premier League and losing to Chelsea in the Europa League final, Emery continued as manager for the start of the 2019–20 season. However, after a seven-game losing streak across all competitions, Mikel Arteta replaced Emery at the end of November 2019.

In total, Emery managed 51 Premier League games with Arsenal, recording 25 victories, 13 draws, and 13 defeats. Aaron Danks stepped in for Emery for the weekend match against Newcastle United. In their first game following Gerrard’s dismissal, Danks guided Villa to a convincing 4-0 win over Brentford, elevating them to 14th place in the standings.