Martin Keown has sympathy for Aston Villa boss Unai Emery after a difficult start to the season.Aston Villa are without a win in their first four Premier League games, drawing two and losing two, and any expectations they would again challenge for the top four look to have fizzled out.They were admittedly not helped by a mixed summer transfer window. Jacob Ramsey was sold to Newcastle United to stave off PSR concerns, and Villa were reluctant to spend big to strengthen Unai Emery’s squad. Click to subscribe to the podcast Morgan Rogers did praise the cost-effective signings of Harvey Elliott and Jadon Sancho, while £23million was spent on Nice striker Evann Guessand.But Villa were unable to re-sign Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford, having brought both in on loan last season, and Keown believes this was a costly failure.Photo by Harry Murphy – AVFC/Aston Villa FC via Getty ImagesAston Villa should have signed Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio, Martin Keown saysDelivering his verdict on talkSPORT, Keown said: “They keep losing players… I mean, I thought Asensio was a really good player. “If they had made it to the Champions League, they might have been able to get him over the line. People will say Rashford didn’t really do enough, but I actually thought he did, especially in that PSG game. When they look back, they actually beat PSG – that’s the height they’d reached. They’ve not got back to that.“I feel that in central midfield, [Amadou] Onana and [Boubacar] Kamara are good players, but they’re not available. So I do feel this will steady down – it will settle down for them. But it is a worry. “It’s a worry that they’re not able to create enough. They rely on their full-backs to create their width.”Asensio spent the second half of last season on loan at Villa Park, scoring eight goals in 21 appearances.Rashford also joined on loan following a falling out with Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim and played 17 games, scoring four goals and providing six assists.Aston Villa badly missing goals, pressure on for Unai EmeryVilla’s attacking statistics make for difficult reading, especially when compared to last season.Damningly, they have not scored a single goal in the Premier League this campaign and have picked up just two points from goalless draws with Newcastle and Everton. Really, they needed to beat the Magpies, who also mounted a Champions League push alongside Villa last season, while they were fortunate to escape Merseyside with a point last weekend.Statistic2024-252025-26Goals70xG7.03.1Goals – xG0-3.1Shot conversion13.2%0%Big chances164Touches in opposition box9385Shots5340Shots on target1910Shots inside box3828Aston Villa’s attacking stats from the first four Premier League games last season and this season – OptaVilla also lost to Brentford and Crystal Palace, making this their worst start in the top-flight since 1997-98. Further piling the misery on Emery, Villa have become only the fifth side in Premier League history not to score in their opening four league matches.Both shaky at the back and blunt up front, Villa are on a hiding to nothing if Emery is not able to fix these glaring issues. There is little talk of his job being at risk, and rightly so, but the clock is certainly ticking.He must find improvements, and fast.