Aston Villa Loses Its Pillars Over the Summer, Faces Arsenal Without Watkins, Martinez or Rogers

Just three months ago, Aston Villa lifted a major trophy after 30 years without winning anything significant and sealed its return to the Champions League. Just two weeks ago, it gave mighty Paris Saint-Germain a hard time in the UEFA Super Cup. And suddenly, all that optimism evaporated within days.

The reason is simple to explain, though painful for Villa Park fans to digest: the team lost its backbone in the middle of the summer. Manager Unai Emery heads into the second weekend of the Premier League season with an urgent rebuild on his hands, right as his side hosts the defending champion, Arsenal, this Monday.

The 4-0 loss to Brighton on opening day already set off alarm bells, but the underlying problem goes beyond one bad result. Villa faces this match without, arguably, its five most decisive players from last season: goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, center back Ezri Konsa, midfielders Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers, and forward Ollie Watkins.

Martinez, a World Cup champion with Argentina, is not even part of the first-team plans as he seeks a move that could take him to Chelsea. Konsa has already left, fittingly for Arsenal, Monday's opponent. Rogers signed with Chelsea and Tielemans with Manchester United. Watkins, still without minutes this season, reportedly has a deal close to completion with a club in Saudi Arabia. And as if that weren't enough, left back Lucas Digne also packed his bags for PSG.

A Captain Asking for Patience

Captain John McGinn tried to tone down the drama on the Stick to Football podcast, though without hiding the difficulty of the moment.

We're used to change and we're going to try to integrate the new players and build on what we did last year. I'm not naive enough to think it's not going to be harder now.John McGinn

This isn't the first time Villa has gone through something like this. Last season started with a five game winless run in the Premier League that put Emery's job in question. The difference is that, back then, the club still had Watkins and Rogers to help pull it out of the slump. Now those two names are no longer part of the equation.

As a possible replacement for Watkins, Villa is reportedly close to sealing the signing of Nicolas Jackson from Chelsea, though his scoring record doesn't compare to that of the Englishman. The club also added Johan Manzambi from Freiburg, who stood out for Switzerland at the last World Cup, but he's only 20, new to the Premier League, and currently injured.

Emery, with his trademark calm, preferred to play down the situation.

This problem, losing players during the summer, we had it every season and every season we got through it. It's something we have to accept and we always react, especially the players. It's tough for us every year, but we are calm.Unai Emery

The opponent doesn't make things any easier. Arsenal arrives as the defending champion after thrashing Manchester City 3-0 in the Community Shield and opening the Premier League season with another 3-0 win, this time over Coventry. To complete the picture, Konsa could make his Arsenal debut against his former club, since William Saliba remains out injured.