Champions League exploits not an excuse for Villa´s poor form, insists McGinn

John McGinn insists Aston Villa’s Champions League exploits is not excuse for the club’s difficult run of form, following their defeat to Chelsea.

Unai Emery’s side have made a promising start to their first campaign in Europe’s premier club competition in over 40 years, registering 10 points from their opening five matches.

However, they have struggled to build on that momentum and, after losing 3-0 at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, are now without a win in their last eight games across all competitions.

Nevertheless, McGinn believes Villa’s continental adventure has not affected him and his team-mates, and is adamant they can turn their fortunes around, having dropped to 12th place in the Premier League table.

“I’m not sure if it can be an excuse because we had a more difficult turnaround last season,” the skipper said. “The Conference League games, Thursday to Sunday, are much more difficult to recover from.

“It’s an easy excuse, but not one we want to use. We know we are good enough to compete and get results like this. We need to get back to the levels we have reached over the last few seasons.

“We’re in a tough moment as a group, so it’s important for us to stick together; don’t let what we have built break, take the responsibility, take the criticism that will probably come our way.

“We’ve still got an opportunity to do something really special this season. We have a game on Wednesday and then on Saturday, so we have to turn it around quickly.”

Emery concurs Villa must do better, but has encouraged them to keep plugging away.

“Today, Chelsea were better than us,” he said. “They played like they are now feeling confident with the players they have. We had our moments, but we didn’t score.

“We believe completely in our work. We are enjoying the Champions League and in the league, we are more or less under where we were.

“There are still matches to play and we are going to recover our confidence, trying to build the team. We have to try to be better than we are being now. We can, individually, do better.”

Defeat at Stamford Bridge.#CHEAVL pic.twitter.com/QOkfcZn9Tz

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 1, 2024