After a tricky opener against Newcastle United, Unai Emery’s Aston Villa more than got the season up and running as we faced off against Everton, and then gave ourselves a great advantage in the Europa League clash with Hibernian, but the big question was, would we continue that momentum against a very different Burnley side.
And we did. Eight minutes into the game, Matty Cash opened the scoring as he connected with an Ollie Watkins delivery, and the 26 year old became a very unlikely hero as he grabbed himself a brace in the 20th minute as he volleyed in a Moussa Diaby cut back.
Burnley made it a one goal game as they hit back after the half time break, but Diaby himself continued his impressive start in our claret and blue as he grabbed our third on the day as we walked out of Turf Moor with all three points again in a 3-1 victory.
Given the chances we had, the margin of victory could well have been larger and new signing Nicolo Zaniolo could well have capped his debut with a goal as well, but his effort was deflected wide.
Onto Thursday’s second leg clash with Hibernian and maybe a few run outs for others given our 5-0 first leg advantage.
Eight days. Three wins. 12 goals. ✊ pic.twitter.com/lzDyKPHggb
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) August 27, 2023
Three straight wins, 12 goals and only 1 conceded since the Newcastle hiccup, so naturally Emery was happy after that one.
“I’m very happy. Our supporters, they were with us as well, they came from Birmingham to watch the game, to support us and we’re really very happy. We are feeling stronger with them. Those three points were very important in our idea to progress in the Premier League. After the match we played against Everton, a very good match as well, very good points after losing to Newcastle away. This was a very big challenge for us, we were speaking about it, and we tried to play tactically, defensively and offensively, strong. The players did the gameplan perfectly. But we have to enjoy each moment and, this one, we enjoy it, it’s very good because the supporters as well, they were with us.”
Turf Moor
Premier League
27/08/2023 3:00 pm
Attendance: 21591
Referee: Michael Salisbury
| Burnley | Aston Villa | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foster (47) | Cash (8, 20), Diaby (61) | ||||||
| Trafford | Olsen | ||||||
| Roberts | Konsa | ||||||
| Al Dakhil | Diego Carlos | ||||||
| O'Shea | Torres | ||||||
| Delcroix | Cash | ||||||
| Manuel | 45 | Kamara | |||||
| Cullen | Douglas Luiz | 86 | |||||
| Berge | 68 | Digne | 81 | ||||
| Koleosho | 68 | Diaby | 73 | ||||
| Amdouni | 81 | McGinn | |||||
| Foster | 81 | Watkins | 86 | ||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Cork | Tielemans | 86 | |||||
| Gudmundsson | 45 | Traore | 81 | ||||
| Brownhill | Chambers | ||||||
| Rodriguez | 81 | Zaniolo | 73 | ||||
| Redmond | 68 | Duran | 86 | ||||
| Ramsey | 68 | Bailey | |||||
| da Silva | Marschall | ||||||
| Bruun Larsen | 81 | Zych | |||||
| Muric | |||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 9 | Goal attempts | 16 |
| 2 | On Target | 6 |
| 4 | Corners | 6 |
| 12 | Fouls | 11 |
| 2 | Yellow Cards | 0 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 57 | % | 43 |
Thinking about the game afterwards I was struck by the look of sheer delight on Matty’s face after scoring. I know anyone would be happy to score but there was something special about his expression. So, up to seventh and not looking over our shoulders, is there anyone we fear in the league?
Looking at his interviews, I think it was just sheer delight that Emery had called it ahead of the game if he kept putting in the effort and kept getting into those more advanced positions again.