Perfect Emeryball

The fear is there. 1-0 up, and they are rushing at you. They've put on in the net already only for it to be flagged. You're suffocating under the blue wave of London.

Then, with a moment of secondary set-piece genius, it's two in stunning fashion. John McGinn has lit them up, and the balance of the game changes in an instant.

You've got to give it to McGinn. He's been waiting for respect, let alone a goal, for months.

Now he has both. What a hit. A long range stunner is the perfect turn of a pressure valve to let off steam. It had been building up.

But that's Emeryball for you. Having an elite coach with knowledge of the entire game, and crystal clear communication is changing Villa for the better.

Unai can say he's not a football obsessive, but he's one of the only people in the world actively studying emerging tactics in the Spanish second division. He's a football obsessive and that suits us.

Because he knows Chelsea are scarier than us. He knows it's Chelsea's day, at their place. He knows you need to stand tall within the storm and emerge triumphant, and that sometimes, the storm will do as it bloody pleases no matter your big brain.

So he sets us up for the break. We hold fast, and take our chance. Then we do it again. In-between all that is Chelsea having a right go of it. Impotently so.

In fairness, Graham Potter and co can rest on their shield and enjoy how much dominance they had, and the xG they racked up. Usually, that'd win them the game, and as the losing team, that's all they have.

We can talk about how they should've been more clinical - but what about Villa's role in stopping them? Defensively they were sound - they were frustrating, brave and especially annoying. Chelsea did everything they wanted except score.

As for Villa, Emery's coaching is getting the best out of a few players that deliver in the only minute they get a chance to. Or the only time they have to.

At its heart, that is perfect Emeryball.

A word on John McGinn's goal, because equally, it's a set-piece goal. Austin McPhee doesn't get the credit he probably deserves, and that's because fans and watchers can simply point at a simple 'set piece goals for/against' stat and say he is shit. There's so much more to it than that, though. We're an actively thoughtful set-piece side, and we have to be because the team is built up of Short Kings.

John McGinn's goal has to be credited as a set piece goal. His position is down to McPhee. The build up was down to McPhee. It was scored in the secondary stage of the set piece formation.

Defensively, set-pieces are always going to be a shitshow. Big lads will always win the ball, instructions don't carry across because defenders second guess everything the second the corner is kicked. Offensively? That's were the magic can happen. Set it up so you can score in the primary phase, or at least in the secondary. We're active in that, and it's telling that Villa are finding ways to push teams when they can.

Emeryball is going to a scary minute-by-minute watch. It relies on Villa being the smaller team in away games, and frustrating other sides. It was a terrifying first-half watch, but it was proofed by the score-line.

2-0, and Villa are looking a smart team led by some unstoppable, undroppable talents.

Two of them are Ollie Watkins and Mcginn. Players vastly improved by Emery, and players who may have been sold under the prior regime.

Onto Leicester. UTV and thank you for reading.