Unai Emery urges patience as Aston Villa search for first points and goals

Unai Emery has urged Aston Villa to remain patient with their rebuilt squad despite opening the Premier League season with two defeats and no goals, insisting the response to their difficult start must now come through sustained work rather than panic.

Villa followed a 4-0 defeat at Brighton with a 1-0 home loss to defending champions Arsenal on Monday night, leaving Emery’s side without a point or a goal after their opening two league matches.

The numbers make for an uncomfortable start.

The performance against Arsenal gave Emery a more encouraging reference point.

Villa were considerably more competitive than they had been on the south coast, restricted Arsenal to relatively few clear chances and remained within one moment of the champions until Bukayo Saka converted Riccardo Calafiori’s cross in the 59th minute.

Emiliano Buendía also struck the crossbar during the first half.

Villa still failed to register a shot on target for the second successive league game, but Emery’s post-match message centred less on the result than on the process of integrating a substantially changed squad.

Sky Sports published the Spaniard’s reaction under the message that Villa must now “work, work, work” as they attempt to establish new relationships across the team.

Emery nevertheless expressed confidence that the performance against Arsenal demonstrated a base from which Villa can improve.

That distinction matters after a summer in which the shape of his side changed significantly.

Several established players have left and a number of new arrivals are being introduced into key positions, leaving Emery attempting to rebuild combinations while competitive matches are already carrying points.

Against Arsenal, some of those changes were visible immediately.

Zion Suzuki made his Premier League debut in goal and produced an assured performance despite the defeat, while Nicolas Jackson gave Villa a different profile through the centre of the attack.

The collective structure was also far more secure than against Brighton.

Villa defended in a more compact block, reduced the space Arsenal could access between the lines and prevented Mikel Arteta’s side from turning 61 per cent possession into sustained penalty-area pressure.

The problem remained at the opposite end.

Two Premier League matches have now produced no goals and no shots on target.

That is the most urgent issue Emery must address.

Villa can point to Buendía hitting the woodwork against Arsenal and to periods in which they progressed the ball effectively, but competitive improvement eventually has to translate into shots capable of testing the goalkeeper.

Emery’s challenge is therefore not simply motivational.

It is structural.

Villa must create a clearer connection between their midfield possession and the new attacking personnel ahead of them.

Jackson can provide movement behind the defensive line.

Buendía can operate between midfield and defence.

The wider players can stretch the pitch.

Those pieces still need to function as a repeatable attacking mechanism rather than isolated threats.

That process will require time, something Emery’s comments repeatedly emphasised.

The manager has dealt with substantial squad evolution before during his Villa tenure, but the current rebuild is occurring after the club established itself among England’s European contenders.

Expectations have consequently changed.

A poor start is no longer judged solely against survival or mid-table standards.

Villa are coming from a period in which Champions League qualification and European competition became realistic benchmarks.

Two defeats do not erase that progress.

They do increase the importance of the next phase.

Emery’s side travel to Hull City on Saturday before beginning their Champions League campaign away to Club Brugge three days later.

That schedule leaves little room for a prolonged bedding-in period.

The Arsenal defeat at least gave Emery evidence that the defensive collapse seen at Brighton was not inevitable.

Villa were organised.

They competed.

They remained in the game.

What they did not do was score.

That is why Emery’s post-match optimism and his demand for more work are not contradictory.

The performance suggested the rebuild can function.

The table shows how quickly it now needs to start producing results.