Nottingham: Aston Villa bolsters remarkable record with valuable victory over Fenerbahçe
Aston Villa maintains its stunning dominant record in recent matches, having achieved 20 victories in its last 25 games (with only one defeat and 4 draws), with Arsenal (21 victories) leading the list of teams with the most wins among Europe’s top five leagues during the same period.
Last Saturday’s defeat against Everton prevented Aston Villa from climbing to second place in the English Premier League, where it sits four points behind league leaders Arsenal, the team formerly managed by Unai Emery.
Emery made six changes to the lineup against Fenerbahçe, and his team dominated the match, as the 1-0 result followed for the 28-time Turkish league champions.
After the match, Emery praised his players’ performance for “respecting” the competition, expressing his “great happiness” with their positive response.
Aston Villa player Jadon Sancho scored the only goal of the match against Fenerbahçe, marking his 19th appearance since joining his team on loan from Manchester United in September.
“It’s nice to have a coach who believes in you and thinks of you,” said the 25-year-old forward, who has not played for his parent club since August 2024 and whose contract with them expires this summer.
“He [Emery] never stops telling me to be positive every time I play. I will take every opportunity I get, give 100 percent, and carry the hope of achieving goals.”
Sancho has played only two matches in the English Premier League this season, but he has started in European club competition matches for Aston Villa in the last five games.
Aston Villa has played 12 matches since the beginning of December and secured a top-eight finish in the final round of the league phase, avoiding the extra playoff round in February.
Emery played midfielder Morgan Rogers for 74 minutes and was forced to play forward Ollie Watkins for the full 90 minutes, in addition to returning defender Tyrone Mings to the match for the first time since November following his recovery from a thigh injury.
Midfielder Amadou Onana, who was absent due to a thigh muscle problem, also returned to participate in the final minutes as a substitute, marking the return of another important player to the competition.
Emery told TNT Sports: “We are building the team under some circumstances that haven’t helped us.”
“But next week we will finish the transfer and adjustment window, and we hope to get everything we need to strengthen the squad to be ready for the coming months and the competitions we will witness.”
United News Network – UNN Arabic
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