Villa's nearly men entering their defining moment

Villa's nearly men entering their defining momentImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Aston Villa beat Bologna in the Europa League quarter-finals to set up a semi-final against Nottingham ForestByNick MashiterFootball reporterPublished2 minutes agoCommentsAston Villa's squad are entering a defining moment under manager Unai Emery.Trailing 1-0 going into Thursday's Europa League semi-final second leg against Nottingham Forest (20:00 BST), a 30-year trophy drought hangs around the club's neck.There is a growing sense it is this squad's last chance to end it.Nine of the current squad started Emery's first game - a 3-1 win over Manchester United in November 2022 - with John McGinn and Boubacar Kamara coming off the bench. Six of those players started against Forest last week, Villa suffering a first-leg defeat.Stability has underpinned Villa's success under former Arsenal boss Emery, who took over when the club were 14th and three points above the relegation zone. But as they stumble just before the biggest game of his reign, has Emery taken this group as far as he can?To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.This video can not be playedFigure caption, Spurs propel themselves out of relegation zone with win over VillaVilla's wretched 2-1 home defeat by Tottenham on Sunday - a third consecutive loss - did not give them the ideal platform, even if Emery made eight changes. It underlined the lack of depth within the squad, with Emi Martinez, Matty Cash, Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers viewed as the only first-choice starters in Sunday's XI.Emery, though, has earned admiration from at least two fellow Premier League managers who have been privately impressed with the decisions he made - a clear focus on his biggest game at the club - and how he stuck to the strategy. He has won the Europa League a record four times - three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal - and with minds focused those cl...