Unai Emery exclusive interview: Five factors in Aston Villa's success from the offside trap to Ollie Watkins up front

In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, Aston Villa boss Unai Emery discusses five of the reasons why his team can go top of the table on Friday; Watch Aston Villa vs Sheffield United live on Sky Sports Premier League this Friday from 7pm; kick-off 8pm

Comment and Analysis @ghostgoal

Thursday 21 December 2023 18:57, UK

With Aston Villa in fantastic form and knowing that victory on Friday will take them to the top of the Premier League, Unai Emery still finds time to talk tactics. In the players' lounge at the club's training ground, he is talking Sky Sports through some of the graphics that highlight Villa's success. As ever, it is an education...

One of the biggest differences between Aston Villa and every other team in the Premier League this season is the number of times that they have caught the opposition offside. It is 82 occasions now, 26 more than Tottenham, and double that of almost everyone else.

It is an illustration not just that Villa are playing with a high defensive line but that the trap is succeeding in catching the opponent out on a regular basis. It has long been a principle of Emery's play. But, he admits, it was never quite like this before coming to Villa…

Emery says: «I have always worked with the back four trying to hold the line. Sometimes higher, sometimes lower. For example, when I started as a coach 20 years ago, I started off so high at the beginning. Sometimes we were struggling and I changed it a bit.

»But always I was managing higher rather than lower. We were doing it at Villarreal too but not like here, where we are so high. When I arrived here and started working with the players, they were progressively getting more comfortable being high.

«Sometimes they were deciding to hold high