“He’s crazy, I’ll have a pint of what he’s drinking”- Aston Villa fans poke fun at Club legend Gabriel Agbonlahor after he tipped Unai Emery to lead Villa to Top 4 finish in PL next season
Gabby Agbonlahor has backed Aston Villa for an outstanding season in Unai Emery’s first full campaign with top-tier European football on the table
Former Aston Villa ace Gabby Agbonlahor reckons his former side can qualify for the Champions League next season.
The Birmingham-based outfit enjoyed an outstanding first six months under new boss Unai Emery, skyrocketing up the Premier League table to bank European football for the first time in 13 years.
Threatened with mid-table mediocrity under former manager Steven Gerrard, the Spaniard’s presence shored up a leaking backline to keep nine clean sheets in 2023 whilst the reinvigorated Ollie Watkins ended the campaign with 15 top-flight goals.
Now preparing for a European tour in the recently-formed Conference League, ex-Holte End hero Agbonlahor believes Villa can mix it at the top end of the table in 2023/24.
“Since Unai Emery came into Aston Villa, if you look at the league table, Villa would have finished in the top four if he’d have started the season off,” Agbonlahor told talkSPORT. “So he’s got a pre-season now he’s got to bring in players, he’s already signed [Youri] Tielemans and Villa have got money to spend. It wouldn’t shock me if Villa are fighting for top four.”
But fans thought the former striker was getting ahead of himself – seeing as the Midlanders would likely have to see off at least two of Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle United to qualify:
One said: “He needs to keep quiet, so embarrassing.”
A second said: “Has he been doing too many headers again?”
And a third added: “I’ll have a pint of what he’s drinking…”
A Fourth said: I think he’s crazy
Should Villa overcome their two-legged play-off and advance to the group stage of the Conference League, the club will need to beef up their squad to cope with the demand of extra matches on top of an already fixture-heavy campaign.
Speaking on the need for reinforcements, Emery told reporters: “When I came here I was thinking about trying to be strong in the Premier League. It was the first competition. Again, I wanted to add possibilities to win trophies; Carabao Cup, FA Cup and, now, if we could add Europe in our way as well. It’s another way to win a trophy in the Conference.
“We have to analyse everything as best as possible about how we can create and build our structure with the players in our squad. Now’s about being thankful with every player given the work they did.”
Villa are looking to strengthen the striker and wide positions in the summer transfer window while decisions will also be made on returning loanees such as Cameron Archer, who enjoyed a successful loan spell at Middlesbrough.
