Aston Villa are finally firing after failing to score in their opening four games of the season, netting eight in their last four matches.
Despite a poor start to the season, Unai Emery’s side have managed to pick up six points in their last two league games. They’ve also won both of their Europa League matches, gaining six points and sitting third in the table.
Picking themselves up was the biggest challenge to start the new season, after an unfortunate end to the 2024-25 campaign. The Villans missed out on Champions League football on goal difference, therefore hampering their potential for business in the summer transfer window.
Emery’s side are now up to 13th in the Premier League after only picking up three points from three draws in their opening four league games.
In this article, we’ll cover
Aston Villa’s slow start
On the opening weekend of the Premier League, Aston Villa managed just three shots in their 0-0 draw against Newcastle United, the fewest shots of any team that weekend.
Emery’s men generated 3.07 Expected Goals in their first four games, taking 40 shots and creating three big chances. But this wasn’t enough to find their first goal of the new season.
The attacking unit included more of a midfield three for their opening fixtures. Youri Tielemans operated in the No.10, John McGinn was on the wing and Morgan Rogers in his usual free role.
Issues began to form with this route. Apart from Ollie Watkins up top, the frontline lacked runners to stretch the pitch.
Low shot production
Aston Villa have never been a high shot volume side under Emery. The Villans averaged 12.7 shots per game last season, ranking them 12th in the Premier League.
But this has dropped off even more this campaign. They are now averaging just 10.9 shots per game, leaving them 14th in this metric so far this season.
While Villa don’t tend to dominate in terms of their shot volume, their chance creation often came from baiting the opposition press, choosing their moments to launch attacks and generate higher xG chances than opposition teams
But this is where Villa have fallen off massively in 2025-26. They’ve averaged 0.09 xG per shot this season (20th) compared to 0.14 xG per shot last season (third).
Therefore, the changes that had to be made were slightly further back, with tweaks to the build up in order to generate better chances once play was progressed.
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Build up tweaks
Emery’s side went on to score six goals in their next three Premier League fixtures. This is despite taking four fewer shots and having 10 fewer touches in the opposition box from their opening four games.
Villa began to find themselves generating higher xG chances, scoring three goals against Fulham, two of which worth 0.27 and 0.29 xG. And they scored two goals against Burnley, worth 0.12 and 0.15 xG respectively.
The biggest change came from deep build up. Emery shifted his usual 4-2-3-1 shape into more of a narrow 4-2-2-2 shape on the ball, looking to find the attacking midfielders between the lines more efficiently.
Both full-backs then have the license to join attacks, provide overlapping runs and put balls into the box, which has a minimum of four players attacking the last line with the two wingers narrow, attacking midfielder and striker.
The usage of split strikers is a key factor to this build up scheme. It looks to pin both sides of the defensive line and create space for the attacking midfielders to receive, turn and carry forwards.
Split strikers
In comparison to the start of the campaign, Emery’s usage of split strikers in recent weeks has helped to find the correct balance in the attacking unit.
Having Watkins flanked by one of Evann Guessand or Donyell Malen has given Villa more threat when going direct with runners in behind, opening space for the likes of Rogers, Emiliano Buendia or even McGinn between the lines.
This was seen for both of Malen’s goals against Burnley, playing on the right but drifting inside in possession and finding himself between the central defender and full-back, playing as a second striker off of Watkins.
This is a clear role Emery was looking to add to his Villa side as he looks for tactical evolution, signing Malen in January and Guessand the following summer.
While these recent changes have struck more of balance for the team, Emery will still be looking for further improvements, starting with an away fixture against Thomas Frank’s Tottenham Hotspur.