Aston Villa are now relying on Unai Emery's specialist skill to save their season: success in the Europa League

Aston Villa captain John McGinn is close to returning from injury. He's been sidelined since a home loss against Everton in the Premier League and his absence has underpinned the latest chapter in a bizarre season.

Villa started 2025-26 abysmally. They couldn't score a goal and didn't win in their first five Premier League fixtures. The defeat by Everton was Villa's second home loss of the season and it was immediately followed by a third, and later a fourth.

McGinn is Villa's glue on and off the pitch. He was present throughout the extended winning run that sees them still in a top-four spot even after humiliating losses against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea.

Villa's season has taken an ugly turn and they might need to win the Europa League to save it

Villa's predicament is unusual. They're openly targeting a return to the Champions League and have given themselves two realistic shots to achieve it, yet morale among supporters is poor. They've been unbeatable for a long stretch of the season, yet it's difficult to see where the next win will come from.

They have been devastated by injuries to McGinn and first-choice midfield pair Youri Tielemans and Boubacar Kamara, yet the evidence of the last handful of matches suggests that the psychological impact of their unavailability has been as damaging as they fact they're not there.

The nature of the last two defeats would cause a chilly reaction at any club but Villa as a club managed to inadvertently weave between and around them repeated calls on supporters for more vocal backing.

Manager Unai Emery, heralded as the mastermind of Villa's winning run and a man with a giant stash of goodwill in the bank, has pleaded for more from the fans on more than one occasion.

Some of his players have spoken of their need for more energy from the stands. It's all very standard stuff but when the fans deliver and are rewarded with performances like those served up against Wolves and Chelsea – not to mention stand-in captain Ezri Konsa's angry confrontation with supporters at Molineux – a section of supporters is likely to point out that some of the impetus has to come from the team and the club.

Villa have a Champions League place to defend and a Europa League round of 16 to navigate, but fans are being asked repeatedly for more by a club that's turfed a few hundred out to build hospitality facilities, has ramped up ticket prices since becoming a European concern and is beginning to mine a lucrative seam of merchandise that comes at quite a premium.

None of this is peculiar but the ups and downs have been exacerbated by Villa's freakish form on the pitch, lurching from one extreme to the other and back again, with the overall temperature of the club in tow.

There will be more appeals for an elevated atmosphere at Villa Park before the end of the season, and why not? It's always come from the right place with the right intentions, a manager and his players aware of the direct contribution Villa supporters can make.

Yet so poor have been the last two performances that those supporters are quite understandably turning the question back towards the pitch and asking, "Well, what about you lot, then?"

With the onus firmly on the men on the pitch who have room for improvement even in the absence of important comrades, focus now shifts to the knock-out rounds of the Europa League – Villa's other path to goal.

Emery's team might have fumbled their advantage in the Premier League but Europe offers a fresh start, just as it did when they emerged from their dismal early-season form in September.

On consecutive Thursday nights, Villa face in-form Ligue 1 side Lille, familiar and recent opponents in European competition, with a place in the last eight of the Europa League on the line.

Home form under Emery has been Villa's key strength but it has deserted them at the worst possible time. They fought hard for home advantage in the latter stages but there's a real sense that a result in the away leg is essential.

The atmosphere at Villa Park next week will be febrile. Fans will be behind the team from kick-off, a stadium packed with people pulling in the same direction, just as senior figures within the club have asked.

If those paid to be there don't fulfil their part of the bargain under pressure, that unity might prove more fragile than one might expect.