Unai Emery asks for a Premier League rule change after Aston Villa lost badly to Brighton in their first game.
Unai Emery has called for a big change to Premier League rules after his Aston Villa team suffered a tough 4-0 loss to Brighton in their first game of the season.
Villa had a really bad start at the AMEX Stadium on Sunday, falling behind 4-0 in just the first 31 minutes. Victor Lindelof scored an own goal to give Brighton the lead, then Maxim De Cuyper and Jack Hinshelwood quickly added more goals.
To make things worse, new signing Joao Gomes was sent off before half-time after a VAR review for kicking out. Villa didn’t concede any more goals in the second half, but they are now at the bottom of the Premier League after this tough start.
Emery was clearly upset and left the pitch without shaking hands with Brighton’s manager, Fabian Hurzeler. In his post-match interview, Emery also spoke about his team losing key players in the transfer window.
Morgan Rogers moved to Chelsea for £117 million, and Youri Tielemans joined Manchester United after they paid his £35 million release clause. Defender Ezri Konsa left for Arsenal for £55 million, adding to the challenges for Villa.
Emery thinks the transfer window should close before the season starts to avoid these problems. He said, “In the last few years, we keep having issues until the transfer window closes. The players today showed the right spirit, no complaints, even with a hard result.”
When asked if the transfer window should always close before the season, Emery replied, “Yes, always. We seem to have a hard time every year.”
More changes might be coming, as Emiliano Martinez wasn’t on the bench against Brighton, with Marco Bizot starting and new signing Zion Suzuki as backup.
Ollie Watkins wasn’t in the squad either, even though there have been four offers for him from Saudi club Al Hilal. Emery said, “That’s a question for him. I can only stay quiet,” and hinted that Watkins’ agent would have the answers.
Reports say Watkins hasn’t trained with Villa recently because he wants to leave, despite being offered a new contract until 2030. He seems interested in moving to Saudi Arabia.