Villa Park: 'Short-term pain for long-term gain'
- Published
"No excuses," said Unai Emery.
The Aston Villa head coach was talking about his team's form amid Villa Park's rebuild.
The North Stand is a shell and currently closed for building work as the club increases the stadium's capacity to over 50,000.
It is part of the club's plan to help Villa bridge the financial gap in the Premier League, but they may have to endure some short-term pain for long-term gain.
"It is something to improve us for the future," said the Spaniard.
"We must try to be together and without 7,000 supporters we must push everyone. We must play better football, compete better, be more focused. Those are more important than the stand.
"We are realistic with how we are working, improving. The things are not [good] enough yet, a lot of conversations with the team, meetings, video, practising and each match trying to show and improve."
Champions Arsenal and Nottingham Forest have already claimed three points at Villa Park this season, with unbeaten Brentford taking a point.
Nicolas Jackson's equalising goal against the Bees was the first Villa had scored in front of the skeleton that was their North Stand this season.
Yet Villa's home struggles are not new. Since the turn of the year they have lost the aura of invincibility which Emery has brought since his arrival almost four years ago.
Between November 2022 and January 2026, they lost just eight of 61 home Premier League games, winning 44 of them.
That included 15 straight wins between March 2023 and December 2023.
They also went 12 months unbeaten in the top flight between August 2024 and August 2025, but since the turn of the year Villa have been fragile at home in comparison.
