Emery thrilled with Villa response after recent ‘wars’

Unai Emery was thrilled with his Aston Villa players after they recorded their eighth consecutive win in all competitions with a 2-1 victory against Basel.

Evann Guessand and Youri Tielemans scored either side of Flavius Daniliuc’s equaliser on Thursday, with Villa now sitting third in the Europa League standings after MD6.

Villa are on their longest winning run as a top-flight side since March 1914 (run of 11 victories), while they have won as many as five of their first six games to begin a campaign in a major European competition for the very first time.

Tielemans, meanwhile, has four goal involvements in his last five games for Villa in major European competitions (two goals, two assists).

Since Villa returned to Europe in 2023-24, only John McGinn (13) and Ollie Watkins (10) have more goal involvements for them than the Belgium midfielder (nine, four goals, five assists).