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At Newcastle on Sunday, Unai Emery delivered possibly his most Unai Emery-sounding sentence to date.
“I want to play matches. I want to play a lot of matches! Hopefully we cannot have a lot of days to rest!”
That desire does presuppose that there will be at least adequate numbers of players at his disposal to play all these matches, which was becoming a problem.
Since they landed in Turkey last Wednesday, though, Villa have produced arguably the most effective week’s work since Emery took over, both in terms of playing games and equipping themselves to play more – the loss of Youri Tielemans to another injury notwithstanding.
The flat performance against Everton, which also cost John McGinn’s services for a few weeks could have been the moment where Villa’s hugely impressive season began to fray.
A week with away fixtures at Fenerbahce and Newcastle might have been designed to put them under maximum strain, with long journeys to face capable sides backed by fierce home support.
Villa showed remarkable poise to win both. Though their opponents had chances and occasionally demanded impressive saves from Marco Bizot and Emi Martinez, there was an assurance about Villa’s work.
Some of their senior leaders were missing, yet Villa remained calm and confident, apparently in no doubt that they would retain control.
Now, we are seeing the other half of Villa’s operation working equally well, to keep Emery’s machine running smoothly.
Bringing back a selection of former players may appear quirky, but each of the completed and apparently pending moves makes good sense on its own terms.
Tammy Abraham, at the reported price, appears to meet all of the requirements to provide the support and challenge to Ollie Watkins that has been needed for so long.
The proposed return of Douglas Luiz underlines how well Villa have adjusted since his unwanted departure. With Tielemans, McGinn and Boubacar Kamara absent for a while, they need him now.
Even the unexpected return of Leon Bailey – showing “a huge commitment to try to get to his best,” said Emery – offers a positive option. And Jadon Sancho is beginning to find the form that Villa would have been hoping for.
In the last week, at a stressful moment, Villa have shown resilience and ingenuity to steady themselves, the qualities they will need to extend their impressive season far enough to deliver tangible prizes.
The next few days offer more opportunities, on and off the field, to demonstrate to their rivals that they can stay on course to the end.
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