Aston Villa Round-Up, Friday 30th October: Emery Looks to Bounce Back from Carabao Cup Exit as Fulham Visit Villa Park
Unai Emery has told his Aston Villa squad to put their Carabao Cup exit behind them quickly, with the Premier League visit of Fulham to Villa Park arriving in quick succession on Saturday night (Birmingham World) (Villa News). Kick-off is set for 8pm, giving Villa a fast turnaround to refocus on league matters (Villa News).
There's been plenty of team news and team-selection debate ahead of the Fulham game, with various predicted line-ups doing the rounds. Birmingham Live suggest Emery faces some selection dilemmas, including whether Alisson starts and a decision over Barkley (Birmingham Live). Sports Mole have also run the rule over the injury and suspension situation for both sides as part of their team news coverage (Sports Mole), while Fulham's own likely XI has been previewed too (Sports Mole). Emery used his pre-match media duties to address the availability of Jackson and Manzambi, as well as touching on Harwood-Bellis and the role Goretzka might play (Birmingham Live). He also spoke about his 'priority' for the squad and offered some surprise praise for one of Villa's new signings (Sports Mole).
Nicolas Jackson continues to be a hot topic around Villa Park. Sky Sports have been exploring why Villa could be the perfect club for the Senegal striker to kick on at, especially given his reunion with Emery (Sky Sports). Pundit Ian Wright has thrown his backing behind Jackson, suggesting the forward could 'go on a run' for Villa, a view echoed by other pundits who are clearly taken with what they've seen so far (TeamTalk) (Football365). Emery himself has been bullish about Jackson's prospects, predicting the striker can go on to join the game's elite and explaining the 'reality' of his move following his switch from Chelsea (Birmingham Live) (Birmingham World).
Elsewhere, there's been plenty of noise surrounding Emery's future following reported interest from Manchester United. Jamie Carragher waded into the debate, telling Villa supporters to 'shut up' and insisting United would simply 'take' Emery if they wanted him, while also tipping the Spaniard to replace Carrick (Football365) (The Sun) (The Sun). The Mirror have looked at both the case for and against Emery making the move to Old Trafford, weighing up the Carragher comments along the way (Mirror).
On the goalkeeping front, Sky Sports have taken a closer look at Zion Suzuki, Emi Martinez's replacement between the sticks, suggesting his range of skills means he could even prove an upgrade (Sky Sports).
In a look back at Villa folklore, club legend Gareth Barry has given his account of the infamous 'Taxi-gate' story involving West Brom players Jonny Evans, Jake Livermore and Boaz Myhill, revealing the true tale behind the joyride (Birmingham Live). Meanwhile, a former Villa boss has denied there was ever a 'mutiny' among his players during his time in charge, pushing back on reports from that era (Villa News).
Finally, for those playing fantasy football, talkSPORT have picked out a surprise Villa name among their FPL Gameweek 9 differentials worth considering (talkSPORT).
This round-up is written with the help of AI, using only the day's headlines from the publishers credited above. Each point links to the original report — tap the source name to read it in full.