Aston Villa enter their second UEFA Champions League campaign in as many years still searching for their Premier League rhythm — scoreless through three matches, with a single shot on target to show for it.
The contrast with last season's triumphant close, when Villa lifted the UEFA Europa League trophy in Istanbul, could hardly be sharper. Yet manager Unai Emery is asking for time, and for good reason.
A squad reborn
Six members of the starting eleven that won in Istanbul have since left Villa Park. The departures include top scorer Ollie Watkins, who joined Al-Hilal, and Morgan Rogers, who moved to Chelsea for a club-record £117 million.
In their place, Emery has assembled a new-look forward line. Record signing Nicolas Jackson — acquired for £65 million — arrives as Watkins' direct replacement, a striker Emery knows well from their time together at Villarreal. Alejandro Garnacho joins on loan from Chelsea, while 18-year-old Ibrahim Mbaye cost £47 million from Paris Saint-Germain.
Between them, Watkins and Rogers contributed 46 percent of Villa's Premier League goals last season. Replacing that output is no small task.
The case for Jackson
Jackson's Premier League record is solid, if not yet elite. Across his first top-flight season he scored 14 goals and contributed five assists — behind Watkins' 19 goals and 13 assists in the same period. In 2024-25 he converted at 13.2 percent compared to Watkins' 19.1 percent, though he did so in 382 fewer minutes.
Crucially, a loan spell at Bayern Munich last season showed a different side to the Senegal international: eight goals in 1,004 minutes, at a conversion rate of 21.1 percent as Bayern claimed the Bundesliga title. It is that version of Jackson that Emery is banking on.
Jackson has started Villa's last two league fixtures — the 1-0 defeat to Arsenal and Saturday's draw at Hull — without finding the net. Emery is not panicking.
Supply lines and fresh faces
Goals require service, and Emery knows it. Watkins, Rogers, Lucas Digne, and Youri Tielemans combined for 19 assists last season. All four have left. The burden now falls on Garnacho and Mbaye to create for Jackson, supported by Brian Madjo and Tammy Abraham.
Garnacho produced six big chances and four assists at Chelsea in 2024-25 but scored only once. Mbaye created four goals in ten starts for Paris Saint-Germain, helping them win Ligue 1, yet arrived as an unused substitute against Hull on Saturday.
Garnacho has so far been kept out of the starting eleven by academy product George Hemmings — a 19-year-old Emery described as
