Latest news with #UnaiEmery
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Will Villa fare better after European fixtures this season?
While it is important to pick out local derbies and great away days, the reality of modern football is figuring out who you will be playing after European games in the 2025-26 Premier League fixtures. Upon the release of the schedule on Wednesday, one Villa supporter told us that this season's selections "look winnable". Advertisement If that happens, it will be welcome relief after Unai Emery's side struggled for points after Champions League group stage games in 2024-25. In fact, they picked up just one win from the eight games, leaving them with a win percentage of just 12.5%. However, there were difficult opponents in those run of games, including away at eventual champions Liverpool and top-five chasing Chelsea and Nottingham Forest. This season, it is six home games and three matches against teams that finished last term in the bottom half as well as a game with promoted Burnley. Sure, they will now have to contend with a Thursday-Sunday schedule, which some teams have struggled with in the past, but Villa had no issue with that two years ago when they qualified from the Champions League. Advertisement And, given the nature of their post-Europe opponents, they can perhaps take further comfort from hopefully being fresher when facing the teams they expect to be competing with for Champions League spots again.
BBC News
a day ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Will Villa fare better after European fixtures this season?
While it is important to pick out local derbies and great away days, the reality of modern football is figuring out who you will be playing after European games in the 2025-26 Premier League the release of the schedule on Wednesday, one Villa supporter told us that this season's selections "look winnable".If that happens, it will be welcome relief after Unai Emery's side struggled for points after Champions League group stage games in fact, they picked up just one win from the eight games, leaving them with a win percentage of just 12.5%.However, there were difficult opponents in those run of games, including away at eventual champions Liverpool and top-five chasing Chelsea and Nottingham season, it is six home games and three matches against teams that finished last term in the bottom half as well as a game with promoted they will now have to contend with a Thursday-Sunday schedule, which some teams have struggled with in the past, but Villa had no issue with that two years ago when they qualified from the Champions given the nature of their post-Europe opponents, they can perhaps take further comfort from hopefully being fresher when facing the teams they expect to be competing with for Champions League spots again.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Opta supercomputer reveals who has the hardest start to the new Premier League season as fixtures are released - and it's bad news for Ruben Amorim and Mikel Arteta!
Manchester United have been handed the most nightmarish start to the Premier League season of any club, according to stats boffins Opta. Ruben Amorim 's men will host Arsenal on the opening weekend and also have Manchester City away and Chelsea at home in their first five fixtures. Opta use their Power Rankings database to grade the difficulty of each club out of 100, consider whether a team is playing home or away, and then given an 'average opponent rating'. United, who also face Fulham away and Burnley at home, have been handed a whopping average opponent rating of 94.6. Arsenal have apparently been handed the second-toughest five-game salvo to kick off the campaign. They kick off against United away, then play Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham Forest, and Man City to accrue an average opponent rating of 94. Getting off to a good start is important - Manchester City in 2021-22 are the only one of the last 12 Premier League champions to lose on the opening day, doing so 1-0 to Tottenham. And Aston Villa and Crystal Palace will be licking their lips after being handed the easiest opening salvo of games according to Opta. Unai Emery's men start off tough with a home clash against Newcastle before assignments against Brentford, Crystal Palace, Everton, and Sunderland. Oliver Glasner's side, meanwhile, launch their campaign away at Chelsea before playing Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Sunderland, and West Ham. The numbers will be slightly skewed by the fact they are both playing Sunderland, who only get a rating of 82.3 - by far the lowest in the Premier League. Indeed, all of the 'luckiest' five teams in Opta's rankings face Sunderland, who won the Championship play-offs, in one of their first five games. Chelsea's start of Crystal Palace, West Ham, Fulham, Brentford, and Manchester United comes in sixth-easiest but is perhaps the kindest on balance, given Sunderland's stray score. Meanwhile, reigning champions Liverpool have the fifth-hardest score of 93.3. Opta have a rating for each team and calculated the average difficult of each club's opponents Podcast All episodes Play on Apple Spotify Arne Slot's men will raise the curtain on the new season by hosting Bournemouth on Friday, August 15. They will then play Newcastle away, Arsenal at home, Burnley on the road and Everton at Anfield. As for Manchester City, they're slap-bang in the middle of the grid with the 10th-hardest opening. They have one of the easier tasks on the first weekend as they visit Wolves, but they also face Tottenham, Brighton, Manchester United and Arsenal - a run which you might think is sterner than middle-of-the-pack difficulty.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Derbies, festive schedule, final day - a rundown of Villa's standout games
The first West Midlands derby of the 2025-26 Premier League season will be at Villa Park on the weekend of 29-30 Emery's side will then travel to Molineux to face Wolves at the end of will travel defending champions Liverpool on the weekend of 1-2 November, with the reverse fixture scheduled for the penultimate weekend in what about the schedule over Christmas and New Year? Well, Aston Villa's festive fixtures include home games against Manchester United and Nottingham Forest, plus two trips to London to face Chelsea and the Villans will close their campaign at Manchester City on Sunday, 24 May 2026 - when all 10 matches will kick off at 16:00 at the fixture list, where do you think Emery's side will be after 10 games? Have your say here
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Newcastle United's 2025/26 Premier League fixtures revealed
The Magpies, who have won their last three opening day fixtures, will travel to Villa Park to face Unai Emery's Villans on Saturday, 16th August, with kick-off to take place at 12.30pm (BST). The game also will be shown live on TNT Sports. Eddie Howe's side then host Premier League champions Liverpool in their first league fixture of the 2025/26 season at St. James' Park the following weekend before facing an away clash against last season's Championship winners Leeds United on 30th August. Advertisement After an international break, September begins with a home contest against Wolverhampton Wanderers and, following a trip to the South coast to face AFC Bournemouth, conclude the month with the visit of Arsenal. The Magpies will enter the Carabao Cup at the third round stage this season after qualifying for the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League and their defence of the trophy will begin on or around Wednesday, 17th September. There will also be a first top-flight encounter since the 2015/16 season against Sunderland following the Black Cats' return to the Premier League. Newcastle, who claimed a 3-0 win at the Stadium of Light in the FA Cup in January 2024, will make the short trip to Wearside on Saturday, 13th December before hosting their local rivals at St. James' Park on 21st March, with the two sides set to meet on Tyneside for the first time in over a decade. Advertisement United will face a trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United on Saturday, 27th December and, after an away clash against newly-promoted Burnley in their final match of 2025 three days later, will kick off 2026 with a home fixture against Crystal Palace on Saturday, 3rd January. Newcastle will end their league season in the capital when facing an away clash against Fulham on Sunday, 24th May, a repeat of the 2018/19 and 2020/21 campaigns in which United claimed respective 4-0 and 2-0 triumphs at Craven Cottage. You can sync Newcastle United's fixtures for the 2025/26 season here. The campaign will comprise of 33 weekend rounds of matches and five midweek sets of games, with the season concluding with simultaneous matches played on Sunday, 24th May 2026. Please note there will be no Christmas Eve fixture. Advertisement Get home ticket access for 2025/26! Join The Mags Membership for the 25/26 campaign to access home match tickets, via Mags Member Ballot, Mags Member Sale and Mags Member Ticket Exchange. Become a Mags Member here.
