Now the curtain has come down on the 2025-26 Premier League campaign, here is my end-of-season review – with a look back to what I predicted in August.
Prediction: 5th
What more can be said about Unai Emery’s work at Aston Villa? Back to the Champions League and the club’s first trophy since 1996 with his fifth Europa League win.
Emery’s perfectionist streak makes his management of Villa a work of art, with work-rate, organisation and talent making for a top-class team.
Morgan Rogers is the centrepiece, but the key to it all is Emery and a team and club built in his own image and likeness. He is on course to go down in history as a Villa legend.
What I said in August: “I fully expect them to be at the sharp end of the Premier League once more under the outstanding guidance of Emery.”