As Aston Villa appeared to be cantering towards a fourth successive victory in all competitions, it was hard not to wonder: what was all the fuss about? Donyell Malen was the match-winner for Villa in Unai Emery’s 150th game in charge of the club, the Dutchman applying a pair of expert finishes after seizing a rare start, this his fourth in the league since signing from Borussia Dortmund in January. Out of nowhere Burnley halved the deficit through the substitute Lesley Ugochukwu, who headed in on 78 minutes, but a first away point this season proved beyond them.
“Malen! Malen! Malen!” was the chant that rained down from the stands at the final whistle and while these were his first goals of the season and Erling Haaland is fast approaching 20 for club and country, this double felt significant. “It’s important to keep working, whenever you have a chance to be there,” Malen said. “Last season we were in the Champions League so we have to push for that again.”
The mood around Villa this international break will be much better than the last, having headed into September winless and off a shapeless 3-0 home defeat to Crystal Palace. “The last break we had, we were a little bit sad and, of course, now we will carry on working,” Emery said, adding the next fortnight will provide an opportunity to further embed Harvey Elliott, an unused substitute, and Jadon Sancho, who was again absent from the squad, Villa citing illness. A week on from savouring their first league win of the season, Villa Park was a discernibly happier place, the home support providing an early backing track in support of Emery, poised to celebrate his third anniversary in charge this month. The Villa manager made four changes from Thursday’s Europa League victory at Feyenoord, Malen among those promoted to the starting lineup with Emiliano Martínez returning in goal after pulling out of the warm-up in the Netherlands.
