Aston Villa’s 2024/25 Premier League season came to a controversial conclusion, as they fell 2-0 at home to Manchester United. This embarrassing defeat ruined their hopes of qualifying for the most prestigious tournament – the Champions League – and forced the club to lodge a formal complaint over referee appointment. The defeat proved a disappointment for the energetic season. As a quick reminder, Villa had stormed back into contention for European football with a slew of dominant wins.
On the last day of the season, Aston Villa’s director of football operations, Damian Vidagany, disrupted head coach Unai Emery’s press conference to announce the club’s intention to file the complaint. Frustration over officiating decisions taken all season long contributed to this decision. One hilariously awful moment from the match against Manchester United really brought out those frustrations.
Season Highlights and Lowlights
Aston Villa were red hot until they ran into a buzzsaw in Manchester United. They recently recorded seven consecutive victories in their last eight league games! That last-minute push settled them well into the hunt for a Champions League spot. The club’s perennial inability to hold on to their advantages has been killing their chances just as much. They blew an unbelievable 16 points from winning positions, good for the most in the league.
Despite their struggles in holding onto leads, Aston Villa showcased resilience by recovering 18 points from losing positions, ranking sixth in the division for this statistic. Their failure to seize critical moments throughout the season came back to bite them. Particularly, an unexpected defeat to 18th-place Wolverhampton Wanderers and drop-points away against Ipswich Town were the most damaging.
Aston Villa experienced a year and a half of misfortune that could have changed their fortunes. In addition, prior to their final game, they had blown a lead at home to Liverpool. Similarly, they were held by West Ham United and let late goals in against Bournemouth and Brighton at Villa Park. These findings pointed to a consistent and frustrating trend of slow starts and late-game collapses that defined their season.
“The decision to disallow Morgan Rogers’ goal, which would have given the club a 1-0 lead with 17 minutes remaining in the match, was a major contributing factor to the club not qualifying for the Champions League,” – Aston Villa
Critical Matches and Missed Opportunities
There are plenty of other matches throughout the season that were true missed opportunities that Aston Villa left on the table. The loss to Wolverhampton was the most hurtful, coming at a point in time that Wolves hadn’t won any of their previous five league games. Had Villa taken a point from their games against Ipswich or Wolves they would be in the play-off places now. The impact of their performance would have been tremendous!
Aston Villa’s spirited display against Manchester City over the weekend was an expensive result. Matheus Nunes scored a one touch late winner to put the game on ice for City. This objective only served to underscore Villa’s difficulty in taking advantage of critical opportunities. They had difficulty closing the door in close games against inferior competition. This dichotomy was their undoing in the end.
The team’s standing over the course of the season can be seen in this graph created by Opta, showing their up-and-down luck. That data shows just how close they were to reaching their Champions League dreams before succumbing at key moments.
Looking Ahead to Europe
Despite the disappointment of missing out on Champions League football, Aston Villa secured a spot in next season’s Europa League. The accomplishment is a testament to the development shown during Unai Emery’s tenure and provides a path back to European football.
Aston Villa prepares for European football next season and the fierce competition that lies ahead. Sky Sports will have exclusive live coverage on 80% of all Premier League matches live. As the club looks to build upon their successes from the last couple of years, they must address the shortcomings that prevented their Champions League aspirations from taking flight.
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