BREAKING: UNAI EMERY REVEALS BOLD JANUARY PLANS AHEAD OF RECORD-BREAKING ARSENAL SHOWDOWN
Unai Emery confirms Aston Villa will be active this January, balancing finance rules with a dream to win the Champions League.
Unai Emery has made it clear he wants Aston Villa to be active in January, pushing the club to show some ambition so he can try to win the Champions League at Villa Park.
Villa has been surprisingly good this season in the Premier League. If they beat Arsenal, who are currently top of the league, they'll be tied with them and set a new club record of 12 straight wins.
Because of finance rules, Villa can't just spend whatever they want, but Emery still thinks they'll be making moves when the January transfer window opens.
He said, You can dream, right? I have my dreams, and I'm chasing them here. My big dream here, as a coach, is to win the Champions League. I've wanted that my whole life.
Last year, I coached Villarreal when we got to the Champions League quarter-finals, and in 2022, we made it to the semi-finals.
But let's be real. Right now, I'm only dreaming about tomorrow's game. Sure, we can think about how we want to develop the club and where we want to go, but for now, it's all about tomorrow.
Unai Emery wants to add to his Villa squad, who are in the title race after doing so well lately.
When asked about January, Emery said, "We're paying attention, and if we can sign someone who can really help us get better, we will." We can sign players, but we can't spend a ton of money. But we can do something, and we might also let some players leave.
We want to be ambitious and reach our goals. Our goal is to play European football. When I got here a little over three years ago, I wanted a new experience in the Premier League and to build a team that could compete for trophies and play in Europe regularly.
Emery was hired by Arsenal in 2018 but was fired after a year and a half. He's doing much better in his second try at English football, even though he'll be without key players like Boubacar Kamara and Matty Cash for the Arsenal game because they're suspended.
The Spaniard also added some pressure before the game in North London by saying Arsenal are the favorites to win the title. He said, Arsenal is playing at the highest level. They're the favorites for the league because of how they're building their team and getting better at everything.
They signed two players for every position last summer and brought in some really important players. Some players are coming back from injury, like Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus.
You can see they're stronger now. It's the biggest test we'll face. We should be proud of how close we are to Manchester City and Arsenal, but we need to stay humble, confident, and ambitious.
AWONIYI DOUBLE LEAVES NOTTINGHAM FOREST ON THE VERGE OF PREMIER LEAGUE SAFETY
Nottingham Forest moved closer to safety with a 3-1 win over Chelsea, while West Ham fell into the relegation zone after Spurs won.
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Nottingham Forest came out of the weekend looking pretty safe after pulling off an impressive 3-1 win at Chelsea. They’re almost clear of the relegation mess. Tottenham’s big away win at Aston Villa shook things up too, and now West Ham are back in the bottom three, running out of time faster than ever.
Forest have stepped up just when they needed to, leaving West Ham and Tottenham behind with a string of solid performances. Honestly, no one saw this coming, especially since Vitor Pereira shuffled his lineup with eight changes, fresh off a Europa League win against Aston Villa.
Even so, Forest were ahead within 90 seconds, thanks to Taiwo Awoniyi’s quick strike. By the 15th minute, Igor Jesus calmly buried a penalty after Malo Gusto’s reckless foul in the box. Chelsea had a chance to get back in it, but Cole Palmer wasted a penalty right before the break after a scary head collision involving Jesse Derry.
Awoniyi doubled down and scored again early in the second half, pushing Forest six points ahead of West Ham with just three games left.
West Ham’s weekend started badly; they looked flat and lost to Brentford. Things got worse Sunday night when Tottenham pulled off their first back-to-back Premier League wins since August 2025, beating a heavily rotated Aston Villa side 2-1.
Forest is now out of West Ham’s reach, or almost. Tottenham’s still close enough for Nuno Espirito Santo’s team to worry, but with three tough games coming up, Spurs could stay up even without another win, unless West Ham digs deep and pulls off something unexpected before their home finale against Leeds.
Right now, Forest can practically taste safety. Spurs finally see a way out after weeks of struggle. As for West Ham, they’re left hoping for a miracle, a last-minute twist to dodge the drop.
CESC FABREGAS CONFIRMS INTEREST IN PREMIER LEAGUE RETURN AMID CHELSEA'S MANAGER SEARCH
As Chelsea searches for a new manager, Cesc Fabregas breaks his silence on his future at Como and his Premier League ambitions.
Cesc Fabregas recalls exactly how a conversation with Jose Mourinho prompted him to join Chelsea, despite having the opportunity to return to Arsenal.
After winning six trophies in just three seasons, the Spanish World Cup winner left Barcelona for the second time in 2014. That summer, Fabregas made a move back to the Premier League, signing with Chelsea for about €33 million.
He already knew English football well. Fabregas had arrived at Arsenal as a 16-year-old from Barcelona in 2003 and made 212 Premier League appearances for them. When he decided to leave Barcelona, Manchester City also wanted him, but Chelsea convinced him, mostly thanks to Mourinho.
Talking with talkSPORT’s Rory Jennings on YouTube, Fabregas laid out how it all happened. “Honestly, when I made up my mind to leave Barcelona, my first thought was just to go back to Arsenal. They had this buyback clause; they had two weeks to use it after I told them I was leaving. They knew about it but didn’t take it. That surprised me a little, but in the end, I had to think about my career. I was 27, at the peak of my career, and I wanted to continue performing and winning trophies. City and Chelsea were both options.
“But when Mourinho spoke to me, that was it. He showed me his plans for the team and told me about Diego Costa, Courtois, and Filipe Luis and how, with those guys, we’d win the league. He was right, by the way. We won both the Premier League and the Carling Cup.”
Fabregas wasted no time winning over Chelsea fans. On his debut at Burnley, he set up two goals, including a stunning assist for Andre Schurrle. He finished his first season at Chelsea with five goals and 24 assists, along with Premier League and League Cup medals.
Things dipped the next season. Fabregas got just 15 goal contributions, and Chelsea slipped all the way to tenth. But when Antonio Conte took charge in 2016-17, they bounced back, and Fabregas picked up another league title.
He added an FA Cup win in 2018, his second, after his earlier one with Arsenal, and left for Monaco a few months later. His last Chelsea match came in the FA Cup against Nottingham Forest. When he got subbed off, he couldn’t hold back tears.
Chelsea supporters still sing about him; that “Oh, Fabregas is magic...” chant sticks around. And with his name in the conversation for a possible return, maybe they haven’t seen the last of him yet.
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