Matt Maher: Top four pretenders? Aston Villa's toughest tests are yet to come

Unai Emery has already pretty much admitted so.

Through an excellent start to the season, which has so far seen Villa win 13 out of 19 matches in all competitions, one constant has been the Spaniard playing down their achievements.

While observers have increasingly talked them up as contenders for Champions League qualification, Emery has been having none of it.

When Villa suffered their sole defeat in the last nine matches at Nottingham Forest earlier this month, the head coach called it a missed opportunity to prove they could finish in the top seven, despite the fact the result still left them sitting fifth in the table.

It’s not only a message delivered for the benefit of fans and the media. Emery has also repeated it to his players at Bodymoor Heath. Whether expectation management or motivational trick, there is little doubt it has proved effective.

Increasingly, however, it is a line which has become harder to make stick, the more Villa have won. With the Premier League campaign nearly a third of the way complete, they are just three points off the top, with a four-point cushion to sixth-placed Manchester United.

The long-term view is arguably even more impressive, with only Manchester City having picked up more points than Villa since the start of the year.