Unai Emery breaks Aston Villa club record with Carabao Cup win
Yesterday at 06:29 PM
Unai Emery has become the quickest Aston Villa manager to achieve 50 wins.
The Spaniard achieved the feat as his side got the better of League One side Wycombe Wanderers in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.
Emi Buendia’s header and a Jhon Duran penalty in the second half put Villa in charge at Adams Park, and a stoppage-time goal from Wycombe’s Richard Kone wasn’t enough for the Chairboys to fight back as Villa secured a 2-1 win.
And in doing so, Emery made history by achieving his 50th win as Villa boss in his 90th game in charge.
The former Arsenal boss beat previous record holder Joe Mercer, who got his 50th Villa win in his 93rd game in charge.
Emery also beats John Gregory (101 games), Tony Barton (103), George Ramsay (103) and Jimmy Hogan (104) to win no.50.
“It’s always difficult playing against teams away from home with their supporters, they have a duty to show the capacity to fight the teams in the Premier League,” Emery said after the game.
“They were playing with motivation and they played well. We were trying to control the first half with our positioning.
“We didn’t have a lot of chances but I was happy because I think it was a must to play 90 minutes and play in a way where we feel comfortable on the pitch.
“Not losing any easy balls, I think we more or less did, and then proceed when creating chances to be clinical and we did. I am happy.”
Villa have booked their place in the last 16 of the competition and wait to find out their next opponents following the conclusion of the third-round ties on Wednesday night, which see Arsenal entertain Bolton and Liverpool play host to West Ham, which is live on talkSPORT 2.
The Villans have made a strong start to the season as they currently sit third in the Premier League table with four wins from five.
Meanwhile, they won their first match in the Champions League for 41 years with a convincing 3-0 win at Swiss outfit Young Boys.
Emery was hired as Villa boss in October 2022 following the sacking of Steven Gerrard.
After a slow start to the 2022/23 season, Villa finished in seventh spot and thus qualified for the Europa Conference League.
Although Villa fell in the semi-finals to eventual winners Olympiakos, last term proved to be a memorable one with a fourth-placed finish in the Premier League ensuring Champions League football would return to Villa Park.
