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Unai Emery guided Aston Villa to Europa League glory last season, and that achievement will shape expectations for his 2026-27 campaign.

Rule 1: Unai Emery is always right. Rule 2: If Unai Emery is wrong, see Rule 1.

Football supporters are entitled to get uneasy when results turn sour. So when Aston Villa went through their first five league matches last term without a win, some wondered whether Emery's momentum had finally stalled.

The reply was emphatic: a Europa League trophy, topped off with a top-four finish.

Unai Emery is always right. That is both the blessing and the burden. He has taken Villa to heights not seen since the club were crowned European champions in 1982.

The burden is that he is now so integral to the club that, for fans, even imagining a future without the Basque manager feels a bit like grieving for the family pet while it is still happily alive.

The challenge is to persuade Emery that everything he wants to achieve can be achieved at Villa Park. That long-awaited silverware – a concrete reward for Villa's rise under him – was an important first step.

Qualifying for European football for a fourth straight season is another major reason for his continued happiness in B6.

What comes next? A domestic cup? A genuine Premier League title challenge? Or even a push to win the Champions League?

Emery's brilliance has repeatedly edged Villa closer to the elite, despite the financial edge enjoyed by the traditional heavyweights.

With Emery in charge, supporters feel entitled to dream big. And at Villa, Emery himself appears to believe that absolutely anything can happen. See Rule 1.

If Aston Villa's redeveloped North Stand were ever to feature a managerial Mount Rushmore, Unai Emery would fully deserve his place alongside 1980s greats Ron Saunders and Tony Barton. Across the last four decades, he is the only Villa boss to bring home a trophy and secure a Champions League place.

Signed from Hibernian for around £2.7m eight years ago, John McGinn has firmly grown into Villa's own Captain Marvel, although supporters prefer the nickname BraveArse. The broad-bottomed Scot has become a club legend, from his upside-down goggles celebration to lifting trophies.

PREMIER LEAGUE: 4th

FA CUP: Fourth Round

LEAGUE CUP: Third Round

EUROPA LEAGUE: Winners

Ollie Watkins scored 21 goals in all competitions for Aston Villa last season, equalling Viktor Gyokeres' tally for a Premier League-winning Arsenal team.

The England forward netted five of those goals in the Europa League on the way to Villa lifting the trophy.

He finished the campaign in blistering form, scoring braces in consecutive matches against Liverpool and Manchester City in his final two domestic fixtures of the season.

The 4-0 demolition of Nottingham Forest in the second leg of the Europa League semi-finals generated the fiercest atmosphere Villa Park has witnessed in a generation.

Villa now need to recreate that energy on a regular basis, not only on the biggest occasions.

Complaints over higher ticket prices are entirely understandable. But with the North Stand shut during its long-awaited redevelopment, capacity temporarily falls from 43,000 to 37,000, placing even more responsibility on the fans fortunate enough to be inside to make themselves heard.

Aston Villa's 2025/26 record. Home: 12-2-5. Away: 7-6-6.

If there is one thing more likely than Villa getting a penalty, it is traffic wardens handing out tickets. There seems to be a better chance of the players' car park being targeted by overzealous hi-vis jobsworths than a Premier League referee awarding Emery's side a spot-kick.

The last one was converted by Marcus Rashford at the Etihad, which tells you how long it has been.

Get a statue: Harvey Elliott. That is despite the loanee barely moving for most of 2025-26.

Last season was a massive success for Unai Emery and his players. Finishing fourth, qualifying for the Champions League and winning the Europa League was remarkable, especially with the ongoing PSR compliance problems in the background.

This season will be different because we'll be playing with three stands! The North Stand is being knocked down to push capacity beyond 50,000 for 2027-28 and the Euros.

The big talking point is which player Emery will have to sacrifice in order to comply with PSR.

Our key player will be Youri Tielemans.

The active played I'd love to have back is Jacob Ramsey. As one of our own, he is missed.

The best thing about matchdays at our ground is that Villa Park remains one of the few iconic, historic English stadiums still standing today.

The ground I'm least looking forward to visiting is the Vitality Stadium. It should not be a Premier League ground! Bournemouth – and the rest of us – deserve better.

The opposition player I'd love here is Gabriel, a world-class centre-back.

Our biggest grudge match will be against Coventry, possibly, as they are now our only local rivals left in the division. We have not played them in the Premier League for 25 years.

We'll finish in the top six – ideally the top four – while also putting together strong runs in Europe and both domestic cup competitions.

AUGUST

23 Brighton (A)

29 Arsenal (H)

SEPTEMBER

5 Hull City (A)

12 Nottingham Forest (H)

19 Tottenham (A)

OCTOBER

10 Brentford (H)

17 Newcastle (A)

24 Manchester City (H)

31 Fulham (H)

NOVEMBER

7 Manchester United (A)

21 Sunderland (H)

28 Ipswich (A)

DECEMBER

2 Everton (H)

5 Crystal Palace (H)

12 Coventry (A)

19 Chelsea (A)

26 Leeds (H)

30 Liverpool (H)

JANUARY

2 Bournemouth (A)

6 Everton (A)

16 Manchester United (H)

23 Fulham (A)

30 Ipswich (H)

FEBRUARY

6 Sunderland (A)

10 Bournemouth (H)

20 Leeds (A)

27 Chelsea (H)

MARCH

3 Liverpool (A)

13 Hull City (H)

20 Nottingham Forest (A)

APRIL

10 Brighton (H)

17 Arsenal (A)

24 Coventry (H)

MAY

1 Crystal Palace (A)

8 Brentford (A)

15 Newcastle (H)

23 Manchester City (A)

30 Tottenham (H)

Aston Villa to win the 2026/27 Premier League title odds: 33/1

FourFourTwo verdict: Aston Villa to finish 6th.

Even with Morgan Rogers producing heroics, can Emery balance the Champions League with securing qualification again, while also refreshing the squad within a PSR-restricted budget and with fewer supporters inside Villa Park? If anyone can, though...

This feature was written in June as part of FourFourTwo magazine's legendary Season Preview issue.