Unai Emery seeks Europa League lift with Aston Villa as Nottingham Forest end long absence

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Unai Emerys Aston Villa side are still winless after their first five Premier League games this season.

PHOTO: REUTERS

PARIS – Unai Emery will hope a return to the Europa League this week serves as the spark plug that ignites Aston Villa’s season, while Nottingham Forest embark on their first European campaign in 30 years.

Emery is the most successful manager in Europa League history, winning the title three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal, but his Villa side have made a troubled start to the new campaign.

They are winless through their first five Premier League games and had failed to even score before Sunday’s 1-1 draw at 10-man Sunderland, which left Emery “frustrated and disappointed”.

“Our start, we’ve not been doing well,” admitted the Spaniard, who also took Arsenal to the Europa League final in 2019 but lost 4-1 to Chelsea.

“There is still work to do; some players are adapting in the squad and our idea, and they will need time.

“Other players were here last year and know how we want to build the team and how we were being successful in the last three years.”

Villa reached the quarter-finals of last season’s Champions League before losing 5-4 on aggregate to eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain.

They missed out on qualifying again for Europe’s top club competition on the final day of last season, with this their first appearance in the Europa League main draw since 2008-09.

Villa begin at home to Bologna on Thursday in a repeat of their 2-0 win