John McGinn admits he might have laughed if you told him back in November that Aston Villa would qualify for Europe with a win on the final day of the Premier League season.
Unai Emery has transformed Villa’s fortunes this season, and is averaging 1.92 points per game in the Premier League. That’s the third-best rate of any manager to take charge of at least 10 games in the top-flight this term after Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta.
Emery replaced Steven Gerrard in the Villa hot seat after the Liverpool legend won only two of the club’s first 11 league games. At the time of his sacking, after a 3-0 defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage, Villa were above the relegation zone on goals scored.
Fast forward six months and Villa face their best opportunity to qualify for Europe since 2010 with one game remaining of the season. Emery’s side will guarantee a top seven finish with a win over Brighton having drawn 1-1 with Liverpool on Saturday while Tottenham lost 3-1 at home to Brentford.
McGinn is confident Villa will complete the job next Sunday (4.30pm kick-off) against the Seagulls, who secured Europa League qualification by beating Southampton on Sunday.
John McGinn said: “It’s been the aim since day one. The owners have had a remit to get us back playing European football. If you’d said to us back in November you’d be three points away then you’d have laughed. This club deserves to be in the top 10, we’ve managed to secure that for the first time in a long, long while. Now it’s about building, getting into Europe hopefully and build from there.”
West Ham have enjoyed their travels in Europe this season and in the last campaign, when they reached the Europa League semi-finals. Next month, the Hammers will face Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final, and McGinn admits he is envious of the memories they’ve made over the past 18 months.
John McGinn said: “It motivates you because there’s a tint of jealousy. You want to be involved. The manager has touched on it, he has a lot of experience of European football, I’m sure everyone involved in the club will be so focused this week to make sure that becomes a reality.”
McGinn claims he’s got much more to learn under Emery after playing a key role in Villa’s unlikely push for European football.
John McGinn said: “Every day is a school day, I keep saying it. I’ve always had British ex pros [as managers] who were all brilliant for me, brilliant for my career, but he’s certainly showing me a different side of football and one I’m certainly enjoying. I feel as if I’ve got so much left to learn but, even at 28, there’s so much more learning to do. Hopefully the progress can continue and myself and others can continue to improve.
And looking ahead to Villa’s pivotal final-day game,
John McGinn continued: “He [Emery] will have an obsession this week on how to beat Brighton. There will be hours and hours of watching how we can find their weaknesses. I’m sure we will have plenty of meetings, plenty of detail, but I think if you ask any player who has worked with him this year he has been an absolute pleasure. He’s made myself better, he’s made other players better. The details you are going into, you’re going into the games with a clear plan. He can adapt as well, it’s not just a system that is predictable. He can change, and we had a couple of changes here which spooked Liverpool in the first half. It’s exciting for us, his experience in those situations. The other thing as well, players will want to sign and players will want to improve under him, players will see where the club is going. It’s such a brilliant place to be at the moment, it’s so positive. We could probably sell out the ground twice over next week. It’s a passionate club, a kind of sleeping giant and hopefully next week we can start to wake up a wee bit.”
