Unai Emery is now facing his biggest test as Aston Villa manager.
That was proven when Aston Villa were beaten 3-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday to drop into the bottom half of the Premier League table.
Should Aston Villa fans be worried? You bet they should because the scoreline was deserved and the gulf between the two was rather alarming.
Only last season, the Midlands outfit secured Champions League football and Mauricio Pochettino was heading for the Chelsea exit door after 12 months in charge.
There was more chaos at the Bridge, but fast forward to the present and Villa are now six points behind the third-placed side.
One of the biggest issues facing Emery right now is the team’s defence and how it just can’t stop leaking goals.
Surprisingly, Villa have kept four clean sheets in five Champions League matches, but they can’t keep the back door shut to save their lives in the Premier League.
But, for some odd reason, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca sees it differently.
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Enzo Maresca says Aston Villa are ‘very good’ defensively
Unless he is being kind, you wonder where Maresca is getting this from because Villa have conceded 22 goals from 13 matches.
Perhaps the Italian is being too kind and doesn’t want to say anything negative about Emery – who he has known since his Sevilla days – but he is completely wrong with his analysis.
Maresca was correct to say that Chelsea were ‘very good’ and that they tried to ‘recover the ball high’ up the pitch, which caused the away team problems.
But it was rather odd to suggest that Villa are ‘very good’ from a defensive aspect, as he told Match of the Day 2, because they are far, far from it.
“All the performance was very good,” said Maresca. “On the ball, we play in the way we prepared the game knowing that it was very difficult because they are very good team defensively.
“Off the ball, we were in the same way, we tried to be aggressive and try to recover the ball higher. I think we did it quite well.”
Pau Torres of Aston Villa battles for possession with Levi Colwill of Chelsea during the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Aston Villa FC...
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
Aston Villa’s defensive record in the Premier League
Only six other teams have kept one clean sheet along with Villa this season – Bournemouth, Brentford, who visit Villa Park next, Ipswich, Leicester City, Southampton and Wolves.
Added to that, it’s 22 goals conceded from 13 matches, all the other teams on that list aren’t in Europe and they aren’t expected to challenge for it either this season.
Team Goals conceded
1. Wolverhampton Wanderers 32
2. Leicester City 27
3. Southampton 25
4. Ipswich Town 24
4. West Ham United 24
6. Brentford 23
7. Aston Villa 22
Martinez is Villa’s undisputed number one and perhaps the most popular player at the club.
But he can’t always work his magic and, despite Villa being so poor from a defensive aspect, he is making the fifth-least saves in the league this term.
Team Most saves
15. Aston Villa 36
16. Manchester United 35
17. Nottingham Forest 35
18. Everton 34
19. Tottenham Hotspur 34
20. Manchester City 33
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