Aston Villa’s new slogan to capture their resurgence is ‘The Giant Is Awake’, and there is no question that something special is stirring at this famous old club. Under the spell of their brilliant Basque coach Unai Emery, Villa are ready to write some history of their own and here was another memorable afternoon in front of their supporters.
Villa Park was once an arena of anxiety, a stadium where players often wilted under the weight of expectation, but Emery has transformed their home into a fortress to be feared. This was a 12th successive home victory in the Premier League and it is an excellent run building the foundations of Emery’s mission to qualify for Europe’s top competition.
The Champions League remains the ultimate aim for Emery and the transformation in 12 months ensures anything is possible this season. Villa have now won all of their matches in the league since a 4-2 home defeat by Arsenal on February 18. They have also scored 20 goals in five matches here this season.
Emery said: “The challenge now is to continue winning here and use the energy from our fans. We are making progress here but there is still much more work to be done for us to improve. Maybe the key moment was when we lost two games 4-2 against Leicester and Arsenal, after that I demanded more of the players and since then we have found a really good way.
“We are very demanding and trying to build a team. Chelsea, Manchester United, Brighton and West Ham are also contenders for Europe but we can stay in this position of the top seven.”
The gulf in class was significant here as Luton became the latest club to be ruthlessly swatted aside. Rob Edwards’ season will never be judged on games against the likes of Villa, yet here was a brutal reminder of how far his team have come in a short space of time. With matches coming up against Liverpool and Manchester United, Edwards needs to pick up his players quickly.
He said: “Villa are in a good moment and it was always going to be difficult for us. We are in a different battle to them and we have to make sure we learn from it.
“This game was never going to define our season but we have to make sure it makes us better. There is a really strong bond with the fans and that is really important this season, we have to stick together.”
Villa were completely dominant from the start and Luton’s goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski had already produced an outstanding save to deny Ollie Watkins before the home team took the lead. It was clearly a set-piece devised by specialist coach Austin MacPhee, who is proving a crucial member of Emery’s backroom team.
Douglas Luiz passed a free-kick into the penalty area, which was dummied by Moussa Diaby and then taken by John McGinn who needed one touch before crashing the ball into the corner.
Luton were struggling to get out their own half, with Villa hogging 78 per cent of the possession in a lopsided opening 45 minutes. Diaby extended Villa’s lead early in the second half with an emphatic half-volley from Watkins’ header back into the area.
Villa’s record £43 million signing was involved for the third goal in the 63rd minute, with his cross turned into his own net by Luton captain Tom Lockyer.
Luton did respond, with Chiedozie Ogbene their best player by some distance, and grabbed a consolation when Ezri Konsa’s header came back off the crossbar and hit Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to cross the line.
They did have further chances, with Villa defensively sloppy in the final stages, but remain below the dreaded dotted line.
