Unai Emery’s Aston Villa would have beaten Man Utd to four of their PL titles

Aston Villa have taken 42 Premier League points in 20 games under Unai Emery. That’s 2.10 points per game, which when stretched over a 38-game season would leave them with 79.8, which we’re rounding up to 80 points so that Manchester United don’t win the Treble in 1999.

80 points would probably only be enough for third in 2022/23, unless Arsenal take the season they’ve bottled and smash each other over the head, but Villa would have enjoyed plenty of success and many, many near-misses with Emery at the helm throughout the Premier League era…

1995/96: Runners-up (Manchester United – 82 points, Aston Villa – 80 points, Newcastle – 78 points)
Kevin Keegan’s “I would love it if we beat them. Love it!” as Newcastle’s title bid went off the rails is made all the more embarrassing when two draws in their last two games allows Villa to jump above them into second spot.

1996/97: Winners (Aston Villa – 80, Man Utd – 75)
Villa comfortably win the Premier League, their eighth top-flight title and first for 16 years, and with it, entry straight into the Champions League group stage.

1997/98: Winners (Aston Villa – 80; Arsenal – 78)
Two on the bounce for Emery, who pays no mind to the new dietician at Arsenal, allowing his players to eat whatever they want and drink as much as they fancy to fly in the face of the so-called football revolution emerging from north London, winning the title on pie and lager.

1998/99: Winners (Aston Villa – 80; Man Utd – 79)
Well this is just objectively funny. Manchester United’s win over Tottenham on the final day of the season isn’t enough to get ahead of Villa, who claim the title by a single point to crush Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, who are mentally shot as they head to Wembley and then the Nou Camp, and end the season potless.

And, as if that wasn’t good enough, the win by one point means Villa draw level with Manchester United on ten first division titles.

1999/00: Runners-up (Man Utd – 91; Aston Villa – 80, Arsenal – 73)
Not much chance for Villa in 1999/00 up against an actually good Manchester United side rather than the decent but extraordinarily lucky team of the season before.

2000/01: Winners (Aston Villa – 80; Man Utd – 80)
Nine points clear with three games to go, there was just no way, but with the United players on the beach and Fergie’s hairdryer in the drawer, (real-life) defeats to Derby, Southampton and Tottenham gifts Villa the title on goal difference….