Villa goalless after three games as Emery rebuilds attack — SkimNews
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- Aston Villa have scored no goals and managed just one shot on target across their opening three Premier League games, following a summer that saw six of last season's Europa League-winning starting XI depart.
- Nicolas Jackson, signed for a club-record £65m to replace Ollie Watkins, has started Villa's past two games; his Chelsea Premier League stats (14 goals/5 assists in 2023-24, 10 goals in 2024-25) trailed Watkins' (19/13, 16), but he hit a 21.1% conversion rate on loan at Bayern Munich last season.
- Ollie Watkins left for Al-Hilal in a £51m move after 91 Premier League goals for Villa, with departed duo Watkins and Morgan Rogers (sold to Chelsea for £117m) having contributed 46% of Villa's Premier League goals last season.
- Ibrahim Mbaye, a £47m deadline-day arrival from PSG, and Chelsea loanee Alejandro Garnacho are expected to be the new supply line, though Garnacho has been kept out of the side by 19-year-old academy product George Hemmings.
- Unai Emery is overseeing the integration of 10 new signings and told reporters: "We must be patient, and we should understand that we are rebuilding the team."
- Villa open their second Champions League campaign under Emery at Club Brugge on Tuesday after also drawing 1-1 at Hull on Saturday, where only two of their summer signings — Jackson and goalkeeper Zion Suzuki — started.
Why it matters: Villa have lost 46% of last season's Premier League goal output and are leaning on unproven supply lines (Mbaye and Garnacho, who between them had zero Premier League starts for Villa going into Saturday), making Tuesday's Champions League opener at Club Brugge a high-stakes test of whether Emery's patience message holds before results force his hand.
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