Aston Villa just took another gut punch, falling 0-1 to Arsenal, and man, this start to the Premier League season is looking brutal. That makes two straight losses to kick off the campaign, and what’s even crazier is they haven’t found the back of the net once. Talk about a painful start for a team that finished top-four last year.
Emery’s “Plan” Isn’t Matching Reality
You gotta wonder what Aston Villa boss Unai Emery is seeing out there. After the Arsenal loss, he told Match of the Day, “We performed like we planned and we competed like we planned.” Seriously? They lost 0-1, didn’t score, and have dropped both opening matches! He admitted the result was “painful,” sure, but then doubled down, saying, “But through how we played and competed, that is the way we want to build again, to build a team like we want.” He even called the “debut of some players fantastic.” It’s hard to reconcile that optimism with zero points and zero goals.
Emery also touched on the transfer window, saying, “We are happy how we are closing the transfer window. We are not regretting anything.” He believes the new players “should be enough to build the team again with the structure we want.” There’s also this Taylor Harwood-Bellis situation, with Emery saying he doesn’t know “if it’s official, hopefully we can close everything.” This “new chapter” talk is heavy. He says they need to “rebuild the team as fast as possible” after doing “a fantastic job in the last three years.” When asked if people forget last year’s slow start, Emery was clear: “Each year is different. We have an idea in our mind to build again and create a new chapter. We have lost two matches. We don’t want to compare with the past, we must focus on this year.” Focusing on this year means facing some ugly facts, though.
Zero Shots, Zero Goals, Historically Bad
Here’s the cold, hard truth, and it’s ugly. Aston Villa losing their first two Premier League matches of the season hasn’t happened since 2019-20. But it gets way worse. They finished 4th in 2025-26, making them a top-four team. To then lose their first two games of the *following* season? That hasn’t happened since both Arsenal and Manchester United did it back in 1992-93. Think about that for a second.
And the no-goals thing? They are the first team to lose their opening two matches without scoring since QPR in 1976-77. That’s almost 50 years ago, folks! Even more damning, since Opta started tracking shot data in 2003-04, Aston Villa is only the second team EVER to fail to have a single shot on target in their first two Premier League matches in a season. The only other team to do it was Swansea City in 2017-18, and they ended up getting relegated that season. That’s not a comparison any team wants to hear.
So, while Emery talks about plans and building, the numbers tell a much different story. They’ve lost two straight, haven’t scored, and haven’t even registered a shot on target in two games. This isn’t just a slow start, it’s a historically concerning one. The pressure is absolutely on for this “new chapter” to turn things around, and fast, before “building again” turns into something much more dire.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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