A season full of them, but is there a standout?
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00:00Charlie, on to Aston Villa now. Looking across their season as a whole, it's been their best
00:06top-flight season in a number of years. They've reached some fantastic heights, getting him
00:12to sign that contract as well. Looking back over this magnificent season, this magnificent
00:18run they've had, what are the standout moments for you covering Aston Villa and being involved
00:25at the club?
00:27There's been so many. It's hard to pinpoint just one really. You can talk about Europe
00:32and how it started away at Hibernian, a thrashing 5-0 win over it in Edinburgh to start that
00:38campaign and then all the group matches, the trips across the continent. League Year Warsaw
00:43was a fun one, AZ Alkmaar, you had Ajax as well. Obviously that was a 0-0 draw away from
00:48home but then winning comfortably at Villa Park against the European giants of Ajax.
00:53What an impressive performance that was, what a night that was under the lights. Just
00:56seeing all the fireworks, the European nights back at Villa Park I think were so impressive.
01:01Back in the Premier League, beating Brighton Over Albion 6-1 at the start of the season
01:05kind of set the tone for what should be an impressive year. I'm a Brighton fan myself,
01:09that wasn't a very fun one in the press box myself but for Villa, just a hat-trick for
01:14Ollie Watkins. Going forward, the likes of Moussa Diaby, Leon Bailey, so, so impressive
01:20and they've carried that on throughout the season. But the two 1-0 wins over Arsenal
01:25and Manchester City in the same week in December, I think that's when people started to really
01:29take the club seriously. At that point there was actually a chance to go top at Christmas,
01:34they failed to do that and then of course they lost the lead away at Manchester United
01:38on Boxing Day, that could have got them to the top of the Premier League, they failed
01:41to do that but I don't think they were ever real title contenders because they just didn't
01:45have the longevity and the injuries of course didn't help but that's when people started
01:50to properly think, okay, Villa could get in the Champions League here and now with one
01:54game to go, they could genuinely do it.
01:57And you know, we mentioned the moments as well but they've had some fantastic individual
02:02performance as well. I mean, the likes of Ollie Watkins and you know, multiple other
02:07players who've played into that fantastic attack and have been really solid at the back
02:11as well, all round. What do you think the key to that has been? Is it just the Unai
02:16Emery way of making sure that everywhere is so good and so consistent throughout an entire season?
02:23I think you hit the nail on the head really, it's Emery's consistency and his structure
02:27and it's tempting sometimes to be a bit versatile with your tactics and changing formations
02:32etc but it's rare that Emery does that, he only does it if he's forced to with injuries
02:36and he's had quite a few to say the least. I think a lot of talk has been about the likes
02:40of Man United and Newcastle and Chelsea with their injuries but Villa have been really
02:45hurt by it as well. Losing Tyrow Mings and Emi Buendia at the start of the season, two
02:50key players was not ideal. Jacob Ramsey as well, Bupukar Kamara out for the rest of the
02:56season. These are very important players, starting players, so to lose them and still
03:01be in a top four battle, let alone finishing in it, is so, so impressive and that's down
03:05to Emery, his tactics, his consistency and his belief in his players and his squad.