Aston Villa boss has warned his players to focus on playing on the pitch rather than losing control as Premier League returns this weekend.
Aston Villa are back in action this weekend. They are playing host to Brentford and aim for their third fourth victory this season, which would be the second win in the Premier League and the first at home! Villa have not picked up a single three point yet this season.
Some fans believe it was due to the bad timing as the first home game was against the reigning champions, Arsenal. Some others also think that they had misfortune, especially in the second home game versus Nottingham Forest. Ian Maatsen had to be subbed off due to his injury, but Emery could not replace him because the Spanish boss had used all slots for substitutions.
This time, they cannot fail again as they have been in positive trend with two consecutive wins before the international break plus two victories in the friendly matches. However, there is one thing which still concerns Emery, the disciplinary issue. He underlined such to the press as reported by Daily Mail.
“We must control our emotions, individually. We must reduce red cards but also some yellow cards are not necessary.’Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s yellow card at Coventry (for squaring up to Gustavo Hamer) was not normal. He and Jackson are experienced players and they must control it.
‘We’ve spoken about it in the dressing room. It’s very important in terms of how we want to build our mentality. We need to focus on playing.’
Aston Villa seem to have had disciplinary issues this season. They have had 18 bookings this season, one of which turned into a red card. Ironically, it was at the opener with the new signing, Joao Gomes, receiving it.
They had 12 yellow cards in the Premier League alone. The remaining six were given equally in the Champions League and EFL League Cup. Such number of bookings is definitely higher than last season.
In the 2025/26 campaign, Villa only collected 13 bookings plus one straight red card, also at the league opener, in the same number of matches as this season. There are five league outings, one continental match and one league cup game.
Among those bookings, the one who receives more than once is ironically their main frontman, Nicolas Jackson. The Senegal international has two bookings already in the last two league games. Emery even had to replace him in the first half when Villa played host to Nottingham Forest because the Spaniard feared his forward would receive another one after being booked before the interval.
This is probably Jackson’s flaw which made his boss in Chelsea were not so keen on playing him regularly. During his stint with The Blues, he had 18 bookings and two red cards. Last season with Bayern, the Banjul-born forward had two bookings and one red card.
Apparently, his habit of picking up yellow cards started during his stint in Villareal, when he collected six bookings plus one of them turning to red card. Jackson even also has the same problem in his international duty. He has received three yellow cards and one turning to a red card in 39 appearances. He really needs to control his temper with The Lions. Otherwise, he could lose his spot, especially in Brian Madjo could thrive with the first team this season.
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