Have Aston Villa rediscovered their blueprint for success?

It turns out John McGinn was speaking prophetically.

“We’ve been far too inconsistent, far too easy to play against, far too easy to score against,” he said. “Luckily, we’ve got the opportunity now to change it”.

McGinn, Aston Villa’s captain, was speaking last week about their away record before the first-leg trip to Club Brugge in the Champions League last 16. Villa won 3-1 with two late goals, and followed it up with a 1-0 victory away at Brentford on Saturday evening. It is the first time Villa have won a league match following a European game since September, when they beat Young Boys and then Wolverhampton Wanderers.

“We need to start with a clean sheet and try and nick a goal through a counter attack — something that we were very strong doing last season,” McGinn said.

Based on Villa’s performance against Brentford, that might as well have been Unai Emery’s pre-match team talk. It was only their fourth victory with a clean sheet in 23 Premier League away games since the start of 2024. For an obsessor over details, curator of gameplans and lover of pre-match analysis sessions, Emery has had a lot more success in getting Villa to raise their game at home against better teams than producing resolute away performances.

Going into this weekend, Villa had the joint-second most home points (28), only defeated once all season at Villa Park in the Premier League. They were 13th in the away table, though, taking twice as many points at home (14 away points), averaging them out to a mid-table position. Competing across four competitions was taking its toll: the fatigue of travel and matches, injuries and enforced squad rotation, and the lack of on-pitch training time — with so much of that reduced to walkthroughs.

Emery has repeated the need for “balance” recently, mostly in being so much better at home. Against Brentford, Villa showed their capacity to produce a balanced performance. Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez missed out through a muscle injury, so backup Robin Olsen stepped up. On-loan Axel Disasi continued to fill in at right-back. This was not the full-strength Villa side that played through the press against Manchester City, or shut out Bayern Munich.

It was a test for Villa to improve their defensive weaknesses, having scored but also conceded in a division-high 20 Premier League games this season. Porousness, not profligacy, is the main reason for dropped points.

“We needed to adapt, they were pushing us for 90 minutes,” Emery said after the Brentford win. “We needed some (attacking) transition, but it was the match for our defensive position, our commitment to try to get a clean sheet through Olsen.

“He did a fantastic job, and the back four as well. To be substitute for Martinez, the best goalkeeper in the world, is not easy and he (Olsen) is always doing fantastic”.

There was a pleasing mix to Villa’s approach with and without the ball. They started by baiting the press and worked short, with Tyrone Mings showing particular composure to stay on the ball and break lines. Olsen hit long too. Though Ollie Watkins was isolated against Ethan Pinnock, Villa’s No 10s — Morgan Rogers and Jacob Ramsey — were industrious in how well and often they landed on second balls to sustain attacks from those long passes.

Similarly, while they pressed high early on, Emery knew the risks of leaving space in behind for Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo — and Villa progressively dropped off more, inviting Brentford onto them and creating scenarios where they could counter-attack.

It was not a tall Brentford team and, with Mings, Ezri Konsa and Disasi, Villa had three orthodox centre-backs to defend their box. Playing in transition suited the ball-carrying qualities of Rogers and Ramsey, as well as Watkins’ channel running. That showed for Villa’s winner, which stemmed from a Brentford long throw. Youri Tielemans cleared the initial delivery, then, when Brentford worked another crossing angle, Mings headed away.

Tielemans collected the loose ball after Rogers was tackled, and Villa played vertically. They worked the ball to the other end in just three passes and 11 seconds. Tielemans found Ramsey, who released Watkins wide on the left.

Ollie Watkins breaks the deadlock against his former club! 🔓

His sixth goal in six games against Brentford since he left 🔥 pic.twitter.com/RB7wZ9td3Z

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) March 8, 2025

And for readers in the U.S.

Ollie Watkins strikes on the counter to put Villa on top against Brentford. 💥

📺 NBC & Peacock | #BREAVL pic.twitter.com/K5azoxvenw

— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) March 8, 2025

Really, his decision to shoot on the angle, especially considering Villa were four-v-three, was selfish and suboptimal, but a deflection off Nathan Collins took his shot past Mark Flekken. It was Villa’s first Premier League goal from a fast break since the reverse fixture in early December.

Another counter-attack from the Brentford kick-off (again from a Mings regain, a Ramsey dribble and this time a Watkins cutback for Rogers) showed that Villa’s counter-attacking strengths might have been lost but not forgotten this term. Rogers beat Flekken, only for VAR to rule the goal out as Watkins was offside with his run in behind. Scoring in flurries was another strength last campaign, which has not been as pronounced this time around, so those flashes were promising.

Villa ended the game with 40 clearances, their joint-most in a Premier League game this campaign (alongside the 2-2 draw at Arsenal). While they conceded territory, Brentford’s opportunities were few and far between, with Villa becoming the second team (after Arsenal) this season to go to the Gtech Stadium and not concede any big chances.

Mings, who only returned at the end of last year from a second anterior cruciate ligament injury, was imperious at defending crosses and marshalling the back four to step up. His in-possession qualities are not as refined as the injured Pau Torres, who is fundamental to execute Emery’s playing-out patterns, but in this type of game, Mings shone.

“We are now really hungry to play the last two months and a half,” Emery said. “We lost something in our way this year and have to try to recover, especially in the Premier League.”

Villa have turned a corner with their last two away games, and the Brentford performance should provide them with a blueprint for the rest of the season — in Europe and domestically.

(Top photo: Tielemans leads the celebrations after the away win at Brentford. Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)