Sunderland on Sunday and new ground for the owners and manager

So, the other night wasn't great and while I might have written that it was our best chance of silverware, all are fairly equal when you start out. Maybe not having the League Cup on the schedule gives us a little breathing space and that might turn out to be a good thing. But it still doesn't feel great.

And this season hasn't started how we would have all liked. And I'm reading things here on X and other sites, that doesn't sit well with me. So I'm starting this post with a disclaimer, I'm all for Unai and I believe he'll get it right. This isn't his first rodeo.

But how do we know what the manager is thinking and what about our owners? We have no idea what anyone is thinking and when people are not happy or getting what they hoped for or expected, people react in quite unexpected ways.

It's a strange time to be an Aston Villa fan and I've not written that before. So we have to move on to Sunderland on Sunday and use this as an opportunity to put things right. 

But Sunderland isn't going to be an easy place for any team this season. They've already won their two home games, against Brentford and West Ham and have seven points from a possible twelve. They're sitting where we should be.

But I revert to my default position and I have faith in Unai and that he'll get it right. Or more to the point, the eleven on the pitch will. And talking of the players, Sancho and Elliott looked like good additions the other night and I'm sure everyone else is desperate for a win, it's just figuring out how to get there.

It's figuring out how to convert chances and how to create more. It's going to come good. But Sunday afternoon wont be nice if it doesn't happen. 

Match facts from the BBC

• Sunderland have won just one of their last 12 league meetings with Aston Villa (D5 L6), although that was the most recent Premier League game between the pair in January 2016 (3-1).

• Aston Villa completed a league double over Sunderland when they last faced in 2017-18 in the Championship and could win three in a row in the league against the Black Cats for the first time since December 2009 under Martin O’Neill.

• Sunderland are looking to win three consecutive home Premier League matches for the first time since February 2012, while a win in this game would see them equal their total wins at the Stadium of Light in their last top-flight campaign in 2016-17 (W3 D5 L11).

• Aston Villa have failed to score in their last five league games, only once having a longer run in their history (six between December 2014 and February 2015). Meanwhile, they could become just the third team in top-flight history to fail to score in any of their first five league games to a campaign after Ipswich Town (1970-71) and Crystal Palace (2017-18).

• Sunderland last won their first three home top-flight games in a season back in 1965-66, while the last newly promoted side to win their first three home games in the Premier League were Burnley in 2009-10.

• Aston Villa have lost none of their 15 Premier League games under Unai Emery against newly promoted sides (W12 D3) – their last defeat was in their last game under Steven Gerrard, losing 3-0 away at Fulham.

• Sunderland have scored five goals from just nine shots on target in the Premier League this season, with only Arsenal (64%) converting a higher share of their attempts on target than the Black Cats (56%).

• This will be Unai Emery’s first Premier League game against Sunderland – he has beaten 25 of the previous 27 clubs he’s previously faced with Arsenal and Aston Villa in the division, failing only against Ipswich (D2) and Liverpool (D4 L5).

• Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins has been involved 12 goals in his last nine Premier League appearances against newly promoted clubs (6 goals, 6 assists). He’s currently level with Gabriel Agbonlahor (14 goals, 6 assists) for most goal involvements against promoted sides for Villa in the competition (10 goals, 10 assists).

• Wilson Isidor has scored in both of Sunderland’s home Premier League games so far this season. The last player to score in each of the Black Cats’ first three at the Stadium of Light was Darren Bent in 2010-11.