On an evening where Forrest Gump was in attendance, it was fitting Unai Emery likened Aston Villa’s Champions League quest to long-distance running.
“We must be mentally strong until the last yard of this marathon,” he wrote in his programme notes. “Players and supporters, as one. We are close to the finish line. Let’s put in one last effort.”
If they say the first step is always the hardest, then the inverse has proved as much for Villa. Tom Hanks was sat in the directors’ box overhanging the touchline and Emery’s dugout. He was jovial and warm, yet at 3-1 down to Liverpool with little more than 10 minutes left of normal time, the usual chatter and patter of a Hollywood star rocking up in the West Midlands turned subdued.
Villa were staring down the barrel of a second successive Premier League defeat for the first time since May 2023 and the fourth across all competitions. Form and poise had deserted them and, as three tight offside calls that went the wrong way during the game affirmed, they also seemed out of luck.
Treading new ground invariably comes with an element of caution. A win would have secured Champions League football but a loss, as was seemingly transpiring, would have deepened the trepidation.
Villa’s form had been on a downward trend since the turn of the year, alleviated by overperformance in attack — five goals more than their expected goals rate warranted — and, to some extent, fortune. Since January 1 and prior to Liverpool’s visit, Villa’s expected points (xPTS), which is based on goal chances determining the probability of which team wins a match, ranked them 15th in the Premier League.
Unai Emery celebrates Villa’s comeback (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
In short, if Villa were judged on goal chances, they would have picked up around 18 points in 16 fixtures. When Jarel Quansah scored Liverpool’s third, Villa had conceded 12 goals in less than five completed games.
While it did not mean Villa were in a wholly negative spiral, it was alarming. The drop off compared to the first part of the campaign — where Villa were sixth in xPTS — seemed stark and suggested at some point that the unsustainable feel would prove fateful.
For all the data, however, Villa’s actual points tally in 2024 was 25 points. Lucky? What happened in the final few minutes against Liverpool, when Villa snatched an unlikely point, would suggest not.
“The 90 minutes is a summary,” Emery said afterwards. “We started losing from minute one. At Newcastle, (on the opening day) we lost 5-1. This team always reacts. In some trouble during the season, we were always coming back. Today was the same. Inch by inch we keep fighting.”
Emery’s marathon reference was apt. It is not always the most sparkling team that lasts the course. Often, it is the one which has a distinctive staying power. More fittingly, in the last game at home this season, Villa’s final acts were thrilling and illustrative of why they continue to defy the data and the odds.
Even when they fluffed their lines in the first half, when Emiliano Martinez served up a clanger-of-the-year contender in the opening 60 seconds and Diego Carlos produced similar embarrassment for miss-of-the-year, Villa tore up the script in the second, scoring two goals inside three minutes and drawing 3-3. It offered a reminder as to why the intangibles within Emery’s side mean they are on the brink of a top-four finish.
GO DEEPER
The Briefing: Aston Villa 3-3 Liverpool – Plot twist for Hanks, a howler and top-four hope (for Tottenham)
Jhon Duran was introduced in the 79th minute and at a time when Villa were 3-1 down and sagging. The first substitute, Nicolo Zaniolo, had pulled up injured and kicked a bottle away in frustration. Some supporters became mindful of preserving their six-goal advantage over Tottenham, should it come down to final-day margins.
Liverpool was Villa’s 55th game of the season, with five players having reached half a century in appearances. Demonstrated by the nature of goals conceded of late, with the offside trap broken and set-play frailties illuminated, players have been without the same level of sharpness and cohesion.
But Emery has installed a mentality that keeps trumping adversity. Supporters understand it, fostering a “connection”, as the Spaniard describes, between them and his players. Even immediately after Martinez’s calamitous own goal, the Holte End sang ‘The World’s Number 1’ as a show of support. Quite simply, Villa have found an imperceptible power that allows comebacks like the one on Monday night.
Duran struck both goals and at the full-time whistle, collapsed onto his knees and pointed to the skies. Villa Park was deafening, with claret and blue flags being waved and Hanks hugging all those nearby. Duran’s second was both a clever, instinctive finish and a fortuitous deflection from Moussa Diaby’s shot, going to show that lady luck had not completely vanished into the night.
Jhon Duran scores his first goal against Liverpool (Alex Livesey – Danehouse/Getty Images)
Duran’s first came in the 85th minute, which was the latest Villa had trailed by two or more goals in the Premier League and managed to avoid defeat. Diaby could have even grabbed a winner, only for Alisson to pull off a superb save.
“Let’s get Champions League!” roared Martinez into the microphone during the player’s lap of appreciation. Emery, briefly breaking out of his steadfastly professional straight-jacket, shouted ‘Up The Villa!’ in front of the Holte End. Afterwards, Jurgen Klopp accepted Villa’s comeback came from the depths of which team had the greater inner desire. “Qualifying for the Champions League means everything for Villa and the other (team) is fixed in the position,” he said.
Having regathered his composure, Emery insisted he will only watch one match on Tuesday — “our one from tonight” — rather than rely on Manchester City beating Tottenham. Deep down, he knows Villa are close to reaching Europe’s blue-chip competition — defying expectations, downward trends and the relentless fixture and injury pile-ups.
“People have written us off and we’ve floated under the radar,” said captain John McGinn. “We’ll have our Man City tops on tomorrow. We’ve delivered special times and hopefully over the next few years, we can deliver a few more.”
(Top photos: Tom Hanks and Jhon Duran; Getty Images)
