Aston Villa 2025/26 Season Preview

Aston Villa finished off their pre-season with a 2-0 win against Villarreal on Sunday night, now their heads turn to Newcastle as they prepare for their opening Premier League match on Saturday. There have been notable standout players throughout the eight pre-season games, such as: George Hemmings, Donyell Malen, Ollie Watkins, Morgan Rogers and Emiliano Buendia to name a few.

The important thing is that the Villa squad looks sharp and ready, Unai Emery's tactical setup looks clear and supporters should be excited as to what to expect this season. The Villans have four competitions to contend with this year: Premier League, Europa League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup. Let's take a look at the expectations and ambitions for each of them.

Premier League Ambitions

Last season, Villa finished in 6th, missing out on Champions League qualification on goal difference to Newcastle. Despite winning eight of their last ten remaining Premier League games, consistency was lacking when Villa only won five of their twelve matches after a Champions League fixture. This was ultimately one of the main reasons for missing out on a return to Europe's most prestigious competition.

The ambitions for this season in the Premier League are clear - finish in a Champions League place. In order for Villa to continue their progression and rise, returning to the Champions League is crucial. Not only does it provide supporters with lifelong memories, such as the 3-2 home win against PSG and the 1-0 win over Bayern Munich, it also provides increased prize money leading to more revenue. This allows Villa to compete with Europe's top clubs financially as a larger revenue means clubs can spend more in the transfer window and attract the best players around the world.

As Unai Emery said constantly last year, the Premier League must be the priority and that must remain. In fact it should be even more of a focus as it will be more difficult this season with the top Premier League clubs spending big and improving their squads.

Europa League - A Chance for Silverware?

This will be Villa's third season in a row competing in Europe, a remarkable achievement considering they were in 16th place when Emery took over as manager. After reaching the Semi-Finals of the Conference League and the Quarter-Finals of the Champions League, could the Europa League be the competition that finally provides Villa with silverware? That would be the aim of course for both the club and supporters. Tottenham's success last season will also certainly give some hope, but one thing will have to change in order for that to happen.

In the past two seasons, one thing has been clear, some Villa players don't seem to turn up in big games. The loss to Olympiacos in the Conference League Semi-Final, losing 4-1 to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup Semi-Final and the 2-0 defeat to Manchester United on the final day last season are just a few examples. The mentality and performances in games that have something on the line has to change and it surely is something Emery has addressed for this campaign.

Unai Emery stands alone at the top with more Europa League titles than any manager in history 🏆 pic.twitter.com/25vxDuAkLz

— OneFootball (@OneFootball) May 20, 2025

Emery's pedigree in the Europa League is phenomenal, he has the most titles, most wins and a winning percentage of 63%. Everyone at Aston Villa will be hoping he can add to those achievements this season. Winning the Europa League does provide Villa with another avenue into the Champions League should they finish outside the Top 4 or 5 in the Premier League.

Expectations in the Domestic Cups

Villa has great history in both the Carabao (League) Cup and FA Cup, winning both of them five and seven times respectively. However, in recent years performances have been poor with only one cup final appearance in five years, losing 2-1 to Manchester City in 2020. This season, supporters will expect Villa to go far in both competitions and potentially win one of them providing Villa with their first trophy since 1996. The squad is certainly capable of doing so and with Unai Emery at the helm, who gets the best out of his players, expectations should hopefully become reality.

The Squad

Since Emery's arrival in 2022, the Spaniard has drastically improved players in the Villa squad. Ollie Watkins, Lucas Digne, John McGinn and Morgan Rogers are some of the standouts, but each player in the squad has improved under his leadership. Crucially in the transfer windows, Emery has made sure that Villa have the squad depth needed to balance European competitions and the Premier League by recruiting quality players such as Amadou Onana and Ian Maatsen. This enables Emery to rotate his team when needed and still keep the quality within the starting XI.

In this summer's transfer window, Villa, at present, appear to have been able to retain their key players. Both Watkins and Martinez had links to moves away from Villa Park, but now look like they will remain which is a big boost. Watkins is almost irreplaceable due to his overall game and Martinez's shot stopping at the back would have been a huge loss. Despite financial restraints, Villa keeping hold of their best players would prove this window to be a success even though incomings have been short.

Marco Bizot and Evan Guessand have been the only senior signings this summer and Villa would probably like to add to that. However, that is depending on outgoings with Leon Bailey "up for sale" and Villa potentially open to letting Jacob Ramsey leave. Should they both move away then attacking reinforcements would be highly likely.

Something Villa forwards will have to do this season is share the goals. Both Watkins and Rogers were the only players to make significant goal contributions last season and it will be key for players like Donyell Malen and now Guessand to share the load. Heavily relying on Watkins and Rogers is a risk as an injury to either of them could determine how much Villa achieve this season if other players don't step up.

Conclusion

Overall, Villa supporters will be excited for the 2025/26 season with silverware and a return to the Champions League the ultimate aim. Consistency will be vital and if key players can stay injury free then there is no reason why those objectives cannot be achieved.