Fenerbahce visit on Wednesday as Champions League football returns to Villa Park.
With them is Marcos Asensio, who scored eight goals for Emery’s men during a successful loan from Paris St-Germain in 2025 – and a reminder of the swagger Villa used to have at home.
He scored in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Rizespor, with Fenerbahce netting 11 goals in their last two games, including an 8-0 victory against Turkish Super Lig strugglers Eyupspor.
That could present a problem for a Villa defence that has kept just one clean sheet this season and been increasingly fallible at home, something Emery knows must improve regardless of the rebuild.
“Our handicap is less supporters for the situation, but the club decided it. It is something to improve us for the future,” said the Spaniard.
“We must try to be together and without 7,000 supporters we must push everyone. We must play better football, compete better, be more focused. Those are more important than the stand.
“We are realistic with how we are working, improving. The things are not [good] enough yet, a lot of conversations with the team, meetings, video, practising and each match trying to show and improve.”
Villa, though, have lost just once at home in Europe under Emery – against Olympiacos in the Europa Conference League semi final in 2024 – and he ended their wait for silverware by lifting the Europa League in May.
“Over the last few years our home form has been amazing, especially in Europe,” said defender Matty Cash. “We need to get back to that.
“I don’t want to sound like I am making excuses, because obviously we have to deal with the circumstances and it is really good to make the stand bigger and the stadium bigger, but it is obviously different.
“I am not going to sit here and lie and say it isn’t but you have to deal with the circumstances. You can’t make excuses. You have to play what is in front of you. When it is done it will be amazing but yeah, at the moment it is a bit different.”
