Aston Villa Verdict

Villa will spend part of the extended international break at a training camp in Spain, and are expected to face Sevilla on October 2nd, eight days before the Premier League resumes at home to Brentford. Twenty-one days separate the trip to Tottenham Hotspur on September 19th and that Brentford fixture on October 10th, the longest gap of Unai Emery's season, and the camp is aimed at the players who will not be away on international duty. Zion Suzuki, Nicolas Jackson, Ibrahim Mbaye, and Aaron Wan-Bissaka are all expected to join up with their countries, as are Matty Cash, John McGinn, and Victor Lindelof, while Johan Manzambi could be called up by Switzerland despite only recently returning to training. Marca report that the match would be the fifteenth Antonio Puerta Trophy, played at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan, and that the agreement is pending final formalities; it would be Emery's first return to the club he led to three consecutive Europa League titles between 2013 and 2016. Villa held a similar camp last season, playing Elche during the March break.

Johan Manzambi could be involved for the first time when Villa host Nottingham Forest at Villa Park on September 12th, with Unai Emery to decide whether the club-record signing is ready for a matchday squad. Matt Maher of the Express & Star reports that the 20-year-old, who has been recovering from the knee injury he sustained with Switzerland at the World Cup before his move from Freiburg, began group training at the start of last week, and that Villa have been careful not to rush him after he consulted a knee specialist. He is one of four summer arrivals still waiting on a debut: Leon Goretzka is out until next month with a knee problem, while deadline-day signings Ibrahim Mbaye and Taylor Harwood-Bellis are both pushing to be involved, Harwood-Bellis having yet to make a matchday squad. Villa are still seeking their first Premier League goal of the season.

Pete O'Rourke of Football Insider reported on September 10th that Villa are advancing in talks with Ian Maatsen over a new contract, with work under way behind the scenes to commit the 24-year-old's long-term future to the club. The left-back's current deal runs to 2030, and fresh terms are intended to reflect his place in the side and to see off interest from Manchester United and elsewhere; United had a late loan enquiry turned down before the deadline, Villa having no plans to sell. Maatsen has started all five matches of the season, Lucas Digne's move to Paris Saint-Germain having opened the door to a regular place under Unai Emery, and he made 44 appearances in all competitions last season from 25 starts. Matt Maher of the Express & Star reported on September 2nd that Maatsen, Lamare Bogarde, and Emiliano Buendía were the next in line for contract talks.

John McGinn's eleventh-minute strike in the 3-2 win at the Jan Breydel Stadium on September 8th has been named UEFA's Champions League Goal of the Day, the first award of the 2026-27 league phase. The Villa captain met Pau Torres's pass first time and curled it beyond Yann Sommer into the far corner, and UEFA's own Goal of the Day tracker lists it as the opening selection of the campaign, ahead of Raphinha's goal for Barcelona against Feyenoord the following night. The finish was also McGinn's twelfth in major European competition for Villa, taking him clear as the club's outright record scorer on that stage, and it ended a run of three Premier League matches without a goal at the start of the season.

The Premier League published its broadcast selections for the festive period on September 10th, covering match rounds 17 to 20. Villa host Leeds United at Villa Park on Saturday December 26th at 12.30pm, live on TNT Sports, one of seven Boxing Day matches. Liverpool then visit on Wednesday December 30th at 8.15pm, Villa travel to Bournemouth on Saturday January 2nd at 5.30pm, and the trip to Everton has moved from Wednesday January 6th to Tuesday January 5th at 7.30pm, all three on Sky Sports. The league said the selections were brought forward to give supporters more than three months' notice, and that every club has at least a 60-hour break between fixtures across the period.

UEFA's refereeing experts have set out why Aaron Wan-Bissaka's 61st-minute handball at the Jan Breydel Stadium became a penalty, ruling that the right-back touched the ball with his left hand while it was “in an unnatural position and away from the body”. Sandro Schärer had waved play on before VAR sent him to the monitor, and Nicolò Tresoldi's conversion cut Villa's lead to 3-2 in a match they went on to win. The note appears in a new set of Champions League VAR technical explanations UEFA says it will publish through the 2026-27 league phase, prepared by the refereeing experts on duty and, where an incident warrants it, accompanied by images or video.

Aston Villa announced on September 9th that Harry Burrows has died at the age of 85. Born in Haydock in March 1941, he joined Villa as a 15-year-old amateur and scored against GAIS of Sweden in the friendly that marked the official switching-on of the Villa Park floodlights in October 1958, more than a year before his competitive debut at Hull City on Boxing Day 1959. He won a medal as Villa beat Rotherham United in the first League Cup final, held over to the start of the 1961-62 season, and became the side’s regular left-winger, penalty taker, and an England Under-23 international. A fast, forceful player with a shot that earned him the nickname ‘The Blast’, he scored 73 goals in 181 appearances before joining Stoke City in March 1965, and later played for Plymouth Argyle, helping them to promotion in 1974-75 before injury ended his career.

The Premier League's independent Key Match Incidents Panel ruled unanimously that referee Jarred Gillett should have given Arsenal a penalty in the 98th minute at Villa Park on August 31st, when Ian Maatsen challenged Bruno Guimarães. The panel found that clear contact was made on the attacker's standing leg, that Maatsen made no contact with the ball, and that the challenge was reckless, meaning a second caution — and therefore a red card — should have followed. It also concluded that VAR should have intervened because the non-award was a clear and obvious error, the only missed VAR intervention among the 21 key incidents the panel reviewed from that round. The decision did not change the result: Arsenal won 1-0 through Bukayo Saka.

Aston Villa opened the Champions League league phase with a 3-2 win at the Jan Breydel Stadium, their first victory of the season. John McGinn struck on 11 minutes for his 12th European goal for the club, taking him past Villa's previous record, and Emiliano Buendía and Nicolas Jackson added two more before half-time after Hugo Vetlesen had briefly levelled. Pau Torres created both McGinn's opener and Jackson's third, which was the striker's first goal since his club-record move from Chelsea. Nicolò Tresoldi's penalty on 61 minutes, given for an Aaron Wan-Bissaka handball after a VAR review, set up a nervous last half-hour in which Tresoldi also hit the post, but Villa held on. George Hemmings, 19, became the first teenager to start a European Cup or Champions League match for Villa in 43 years. It was Villa's first win since McGinn lifted the Europa League in Istanbul in May.

Johan Manzambi is one of ten nominees for the Men's Young Talent of the Year award at the 2026 Ballon d'Or, on the shortlist published on the morning of September 8th. The 20-year-old Switzerland midfielder, Villa's club-record signing from Freiburg in July, is listed alongside Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí of Barcelona, Lennart Karl of Bayern Munich, Ibrahim Maza of Bayer Leverkusen, Kerim Alajbegović of Juventus, Ayyoub Bouaddi of Manchester City, Yan Diomandé of Real Madrid, Éli Junior Kroupi of Bournemouth, and Warren Zaïre-Emery of Paris Saint-Germain. Manzambi is yet to make his Villa debut, having been out since damaging a knee with Switzerland at the World Cup in July, though Unai Emery said on September 7th that he is within days of being available. The winner is announced at the Ballon d'Or ceremony in London on Monday, October 26th, the same night Emery learns the outcome of his own nomination for Men's Coach of the Year.