Aston Villa’s Home Form Struggles Amid Villa Park North Stand Rebuild

What changed

Aston Villa have yet to win at home this season while the North Stand at Villa Park remains closed for rebuilding work. The project, due to finish next year, will lift capacity above 50,000 but currently means around 7,000 fewer supporters in the ground.

Why it matters

Unai Emery says the missing crowd is a handicap, but not an excuse. Villa have lost at home to Arsenal and Nottingham Forest and drawn with Brentford, while keeping only one clean sheet this season.

That is a sharp change from Emery’s earlier Villa Park record. Between November 2022 and January 2026, Villa lost only eight of 61 home Premier League matches, including a run of 15 straight wins between March and December 2023.

The rebuild may be changing the atmosphere, but the football still has to carry the blame where it belongs. Villa’s defence has looked increasingly vulnerable, and Emery says the team must compete, focus and improve regardless of the unfinished stand.

The timing is awkward. Fenerbahce arrive on Wednesday as Champions League football returns to Villa Park, with Marcos Asensio among a side that has scored 11 goals in its last two matches. Villa’s old home confidence is missing at precisely the moment a difficult European opponent is bringing plenty of its own.