‘Emery’s shot-shy Villa a shadow of Champions League challengers’

Unai Emery threw his arms out in disgust and turned in fury to his backroom team as the credits rolled on another no-show from Aston Villa as an attacking force.

It was a day Villa wrote a new page in their history books – an entry of the unwanted kind – as this is the first time they have failed to score in the opening four league games of any season.

And, as the old saying goes, they were lucky to get nil from a scrappy goalless draw at Everton in which they were strictly second best.

David Moyes’ team made all the running at this magnificent Hill Dickinson Stadium, leaving Emery grateful not just for the excellence of his returning, rehabilitated goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, but also that Beto was the blunt instrument at the point of Everton’s attack.

The striker miskicked haplessly in front of an open goal when played in by Iliman Ndiaye in the opening minutes, then failed to make proper contact with another inviting cross at point-blank range in the second half.

It meant Villa escaped with a point, Martinez saving superbly from Michael Keane’s second-half header, but very little else in this display would have pleased Emery, despite his positive post-match messaging.

The only moment to excite Villa’s fans came in the second half when Emiliano Buendia’s shot was deflected just wide – and that was it.

It has been a disturbing start to the season for Villa, who only missed out on Champions League football on the final day of last season, losing controversially to Manchester United, and who harboured similar ambitions at the start of this campaign.

So far they have failed to score a goal while collecting only two points, from goalless draws against Newcastle United at home and here at Everton. Villa have lost at Brentford and at home to Crystal Palace.

Villa are only the fifth side in Premier League history not to score in their opening four league games, after Sheffield Wednesday (1993-94), Newcastle United (2005-06), Swansea City (2011-12) and Crystal Palace (2017-18).

The worry for Emery is that at no point here did they seriously threaten to alter the barren sequence that has made their start to the season so disappointing. The intensity and vibrant approach that has been their trademark was totally absent.

At this stage of last season Villa had scored seven goals and had 16 big chances, measured by Opta. This season they have had four of those opportunities in four games.

Emery tried to paint a rosy picture, but for a club of such high ambition this has been a misfiring start to a season which held – and still holds – high hopes.

The Villa manager was certainly accentuating the positive when he said: “We competed very well. The goalkeeper Emi Martinez came back and played a fantastic match.

“He saved us a lot of times. He made us confident we could play with our identity. Of course, we need defence and a lot of corners and a throw-in defence compact like we did. We need to get more confidence to play with the ball.”

Martinez was certainly back in the good books with Villa fans, who expressed their displeasure with the self-styled “world’s number one” when the move he hoped for – with United very much in his sights – failed to materialise before the summer transfer window closed.

Emery could not escape the crux of Villa’s problems and said: “Tactically we have to try to help offensively to try to get better positions.”

He told BBC’s Match of the Day: “Offensively we need more. We need to try to help out strikers, wingers and midfielders, but I’m happy because we competed and this it the first step forward.

“We are going to work and we know inside the problem we have.”

Villa started with Ollie Watkins up front, but he was an invisible figure until he was substituted seven minutes from time. This was not entirely the England striker’s fault as service was non-existent.

Emery introduced Harvey Elliott, Villa’s deadline-day loan signing from Liverpool, to introduce some pep into his side’s forward movement. He delivered a couple of darting runs, but this performance was beyond redemption by then.

Morgan Rogers, excellent for England in the 5-0 win against Serbia in Belgrade, could not exert any influence, leaving Everton keeper Jordan Pickford redundant apart from some routine handling and an attempt to unsettle Villa with some late launched clearances.

It was Everton pushing for victory, betrayed by their own cutting edge, while Villa held on for the point that satisfied Emery.

What will not satisfy Emery is that this now constitutes Villa’s worst start to a Premier League season since 1997-98.

Emery, this wily and outstanding operator, will know the problems and will try to address what is currently a glaring weakness, but he must do it quickly with an away trip to Brentford in the Carabao Cup followed by a testing league visit to newly promoted Sunderland.