Image Credit: @CBSSportsGolazo Twitter
The 2025/26 Premier League season is shaking up to be the most open season in a very long time. Normally by this time in every season the Premier League would have leaders who are in incredible form and establishing an early points gap total over potential contenders for the title. However this season has been a breath of fresh air as even though Arsenal are league leaders with a 2-point lead ahead of Manchester City, there is an unexpected challenger in this title race and that is the Claret and Blue army of Aston Villa. As of Matchweek 16, The Villans are currently 3rd in the Premier League with 33 points, making them 1 point behind 2nd place Manchester City and 3 points behind 1st place Arsenal. After the summer transfer window and opening few games they had this season, absolutely nobody believed Aston Villa would be considered Premier League title contenders at this stage of the season.
Winless Start to the Season
Aston Villa had a quite miserable start to their 2025/26 season as they were winless in their opening 6 games in all competitions. Their opening 6 games consisted of 3 draws against Newcastle United, Everton and Sunderland AFC, and 3 defeats to Crystal Palace and a double defeat to Brentford in the Premier League and the EFL Cup. The notable issue during this period of poor form for Aston Villa was their lack of goals in their fixtures, in those 6 games Villa only managed 2 goals and those 2 goals came in back-to-back game where Villa were knocked out of the EFL Cup and secured a draw against 10-man Sunderland. Things were not looking good as The Lions were not only knocked out of the EFL Cup in the 3rd round but they were already in the relegation zone with 3 points and sitting 18th in the league.
Lack of Recruitment
Aston Villa’s 2025 summer transfer window was a very uneventful one has The Villans were restricted from making any major signings until they managed to balance out their books with some sales due to the constraints from PSR regulations. Aston Villa’s summer consisted of watching some notable names leave the club on free transfers such as:
Kortney Hause → Free Agent
Robin Olsen → Malmö FF
Leander Dendoncker → Real Oviedo
Philippe Coutinho → CR Vasco da Gama
Álex Moreno → Girona
Other names left the club on loan for small fees as well as 1 key player was sold to another Premier League team which ended up being Aston Villa’s only major outgoings in the summer.
Enzo Barrenechea → S.L. Benfica (Loan)
Leon Bailey → AS Roma (Loan)
Jacob Ramsey → Newcastle United
The sale of Jacob Ramsey lead to Aston Villa putting in their best efforts to try and secure some signings to bolster a squad that was struggling early on the season. Before the £40m sale to Newcastle United, Aston Villa could only make 2 signings with one being a goalkeeper while the being a midfielder all before transfer deadline day where Villa managed to secure 3 major signings.
Marco Bizot ← Stade Brestois 29
Evann Guessand ← OGC Nice
Victor Lindelöf ← Manchester United (Free Transfer)
Jadon Sancho ← Manchester United (Loan)
Harvey Elliott ← Liverpool (Loan with Obligation to Buy)
Not the most productive transfer window however Aston Villa’s lack of recruitment, fortunately for Villa fans, had no bearing on Aston Villa’s turnaround in fortune and form.
Winning Streaks to the Top Half
After the draw against Sunderland, Aston Villa achieved their fist win of the season against Bologna FC 1909 in the Europa League which saw Villa go on to have 5 game winning streak which saw them defeat teams such as Fulham, Feyenoord, Burnley and Tottenham Hotspurs. The winning streak in all competitions came to an end however as The Lions suffered a surprising defeat to Dutch club Go Ahead Eagles in the Europa League which was followed by another surprise as The Villans managed to secure a shock victory over Manchester City which continued Aston Villa unbeaten run in the Premier League. Following that surprise 1-0 victory over Manchester City, Villa had managed to climb their way out of the bottom half of the Premier League table and incredibly moved all the way up to 8th place in the league with 15 points by late October. The Premier League champions Liverpool would go on to end Aston Villa’s Premier League winning streak however in a 2-0 defeat, this however was also just a bump in the road for Unai Emery and his team as they would go on to start a new ongoing winning streak where Villa have won 9 games in a row in all competitions. The victories include wins over league leaders Arsenal and the streak has firmly put Villa unexpectedly in the title race this season. Credit has to go to manager Unai Emery and his players for managing to turn what looked like a disaster of season into one of great prospects.
