The outstanding candidate to be Premier League manager of the season is the Spaniard who has turned an underachieving club into a serious force again.
With all respect for Mikel Arteta’s fabulous work at Arsenal, the masterpiece his fellow Basque is delivering 115 miles to the north-west deserves greater recognition.
Because in a little more than five months at Aston Villa, Unai Emery has picked up a squad heading for relegation and made them contenders for European football. They have taken 16 points from their last six games and – astonishingly – are only six points off a Champions League spot.