While everybody was talking about Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham, Unai Emery's Aston Villa were gathering points at a steady pace and are currently occupying the fifth spot in the Premier League standings, just three points shy of league leaders Man City.
Unai Emery has moulded Villa into an amazing team whose main strength is the home ground — they haven't lost at home in over eight months, a run that includes 13 games. In fact, they have never lost more than one goal in any of those games.
The season didn't start well for Emery's team as they succumbed to a 5-1 defeat at St James's Park. Despite the big scoreline, Sir Alex Ferguson praised their efforts, calling the result unjustified: "To be honest with you. I watched Aston Villa and I can't believe the scoreline.
"Honestly, Aston Villa played fantastic football and just lost to bad goals. Newcastle are going to be very difficult to beat, in their own ground in particular, and their manager has done a great job there. It's a surprising game, football. You can play teams off the pitch and not score - that's what Aston Villa did."
Next up for Villa is the away clash against Tottenham who will be without at least four key players. A victory there would see Villa climb into the top four.
