How Unai Emery exacted sweet revenge on former employers Arsenal and took Aston Villa to a top-3 spot in Premier League
After the final whistle that sent Villa Park into raptures, Unai Emery didn’t linger too long on the ground to soak in the 1-0 victory over Arsenal, his old employers. A faint but content smile spread over his face, he rushed past a cavalcade of handshakes to the tunnel, where he was spotted hugging former Arsenal wards before vanishing into the bowels of the stadium.If there was a lurking sense of revenge, the Spaniard did creditably to conceal the feeling. He later denied that his past with Arsenal had any bearing on how “special he felt about the night”, even though John McGinn, the captain and scorer of the winning goal, had said that “today was a little bit of revenge (for Emery).”
Whether the win over Arsenal gave him extra joy or not, it certainly marked another giant stride towa...