Star eyeing another 'beautiful' Aston Villa season after first Premier League win

Emi Buendia believes Villa are capable of producing another “beautiful” season after kickstarting their Premier League campaign by beating Tottenham.

The midfielder scored what proved to be the winner as Unai Emery’s men won 3-2 in north London on Saturday, their first top flight victory of the season.

New signings Johan Manzambi and Nicolas Jackson were also on the mark for the visitors and after a summer which saw huge change, with 10 new players arriving and several stars leaving the club, Buendia claims the Europa League winners still have huge ambitions.

Villa recovered from a similarly slow start last year to achieve their best season for 30 years.

Buendia said: “This is a different season because we have many new players.

“We need to be ambitious and we need to trust ourselves. We have a very good squad because I think we have many options in different positions.

“We have versatile players who can do different things every match. We need to trust ourselves and keep working hard because we have a beautiful and really nice season ahead.”

Villa, who had taken just one point and scored only one goal in their first four league matches, remain in the bottom half of the table heading into the international break.

But Buendia continued: “We need to be calm. Obviously, everyone wants to win every game and we want points.

“It is not nice to see yourself at the bottom. But this is the beginning.

“We need to keep working and trusting. The table now is really early in the season.

“We are working on being comfortable together and we have that experience to get better and improve for the rest of the season.”

Buendia, who also got the winner last season at Tottenham, fired home from 25 yards out to put Emery’s men 3-0 up in the 79th minute.

Conor Gallagher and Jan Paul van Hecke then scored late consolations for the home side, who are still searching for their first league win of the season.

Villa have never finished below seventh since Emery took charge in 2022 and this season are playing in the Champions League for the second time in three campaigns.

Asked if they can again challenge at the top end of the table this season, Buendia replied: “One hundred percent. That is what we want to achieve again.

“Last season we had a similar start and then we changed the momentum and started to win.

“We want the same and really trust the players and the squad. We know we have a strong squad to achieve these things.

“We have to work and we have to believe. We have to take every game as it comes because we can achieve great things again.

“We have now this big break. But we are going a different way, the momentum is changing and we need to keep working hard.

“The players in their national teams, hopefully they come back safe and healthy after the break and we keep working as a team because we are feeling better and better every week.”