Villa travel to Portman Road on Sunday, with the opportunity to go joint top of the Premier League. It is remarkable stuff. These are early days in what looks set to be a long campaign, but one can’t help but pause for a moment and appreciate the fine job that Unai Emery is doing. The Spaniard must next navigate Ipswich Town.

PREVIEW: IPSWICH v VILLA

Our hosts have struggled so far this term, without a win in six and have had fewer shots (14) than Erling Haaland (19). It’s been a rough return to top-flight football for sure. We know all about rough times though, let’s just cast our minds back to February 2017. Ipswich came to B6 and won, sending a Steve Bruce Villa side that was winless in 8 matches to 16th in The Championship. How our fortunes have improved since those rudderless days.
Emery must do without John McGinn who is out for a few weeks after sustaining a hamstring injury in the victory over Wolves. A completely changed and decidedly youthful Villa team made hard work of defeating Wycombe in the EFL Cup midweek, but expect Watkins and company to return at the expense of Duran, Buendia and Gauci. Leon Bailey looks the obvious swap for Villa’s injured captain.

These types of games aren’t without their risks, and no PL game should be taken lightly. However, this is a real opportunity here to put another win on the board and perhaps build our points total before an inevitable fallow period further down the line. Emery no doub...