Emery's 'Villa 2.0' rebound restores optimism ahead of Manchester City clash
Aston Villa beat Viking 3-1 at Villa Park in a Champions League fixture on 23 October 2026, a victory that reinforced renewed optimism at the club ahead of Saturday's meeting with Premier League leaders Manchester City.
A giant tifo reading "We've Conquered Before. We're Prepared For More" hung from the Holte End as Unai Emery received a standing ovation on the touchline, marking the mood inside Villa Park as he reached the fourth anniversary of his appointment from Villarreal. The win against Viking followed last season's Europa League triumph and returned Villa to the Champions League after a summer of major change and concern over a slow start to this campaign.
Villa dispatched Norwegian side Viking 3-1 to make it three wins from three in their Champions League group, briefly topping the standings before Peter Christiansen's late goal left them level on nine points with holders Paris St-Germain, Liverpool, Real Madrid and Real Betis. The victory came after a 6-0 home win over Fenerbahce and extended Villa's unbeaten run in European home fixtures to 12 wins in a row.
The scale of turnover over the summer was underlined by the departure of six players who started the Europa League final win over Freiburg in May, with Emiliano Martinez, Lucas Digne and Youri Tielemans among those to leave alongside Ollie Watkins, Ezri Konsa and Morgan Rogers. Villa's summer business saw Watkins, Konsa and Rogers move to Arsenal and Chelsea for a combined £172m as the club received about £320m in sales and spent approximately £280m on incoming players.
A difficult start to the Premier League campaign included a 4-0 defeat at Brighton with all four goals before half-time, a 1-0 home loss to Arsenal, a goalless draw at Hull City and a 2-1 defeat by Nottingham Forest at Villa Park, before the side secured their first win at Tottenham Hotspur. That run was followed by the emphatic results against Fenerbahce, a 1-0 win at Newcastle United and the victory over Viking.
Several summer signings and recent arrivals have contributed quickly. Alysson, who joined from Gremio in January in a deal that could eventually be worth £10.4m, won the penalty converted by Emiliano Buendia and forced the own goal that made it 3-1; Ibrahim Mbaye, signed for £47m from Paris Saint-Germain, showed promise on the wing and "appeared in all four of Senegal's matches at the 2026 World Cup, netting in a 3-1 defeat by France to become the youngest African player to score at a men's World Cup." New goalkeeper Zion Suzuki, bought for £30m from Parma, has offered an assured presence and an expansive passing range, while Joao Gomes (£38m from Wolverhampton Wanderers) and Nicolas Jackson (£65m from Chelsea) have also featured, Jackson already on five goals. Johan Manzambi, a little more than £50m from Freiburg, scored on his full debut at Spurs and the winner at St James' Park but is currently a doubt to face Manchester City.
Captain John McGinn remains central to the team while Ross Barkley has enjoyed a late-career resurgence, scoring against Viking for his fourth goal of the season and netting twice in the rout of Fenerbahce; Barkley was a surprise signing from Luton Town in July 2024 and had been on loan at Villa in 2020-21. Emery commented on Barkley: "As a person, he is a fantastic guy. Ross Barkley is a very good player with experience, and his career, I don't know why, was going down after Chelsea. When we watched him at Luton, we thought, 'wow, what a player'. I am so happy with how he is playing, always being respectful whether he is playing or not. I am pushing him a lot offensively. I know he can score and can head the ball. I am very demanding of him offensively. I am happy for him."
Emery said the win "fills us with confidence" as Villa prepare to host Manchester City at Villa Park on Saturday lunchtime, with City holding a 100% record from seven games; he added: "We now try to focus now on the Manchester City game on Saturday, hopefully the same atmosphere, the same energy. I am so, so happy but we must keep moving forward with the challenges we are going to face. There's still a lot of work to do, so how we are responding, getting better, is really fantastic."
