Unai Emery takes Aston Villa to Bournemouth on Sunday looking to extend their equal best start to a Premier League season.

With 28 points from 13 games, the PA news agency looks at Villa’s form so far.

Champions League challenge

Villa’s 2-1 win over Tottenham last weekend lifted them into the top four, ahead of their opponents’ own impressive total of 26 points.

Their form means the Premier League has five teams averaging at least two points per game at this stage of the season for only the second time, following 2018-19 when Manchester City led the way with 35 points from a possible 39 and Arsenal sat fifth with 27.

Villa have only once previously had this many points from their first 13 Premier League games, in 1998-99.

John Gregory’s side were unbeaten in their first 12 games, winning eight and drawing four to top the table, before losing 4-2 to Liverpool. They went on to finish sixth in the table.

Emery’s Villa have bounced back impressively from their opening 5-1 loss to Newcastle and now have nine wins and three defeats to their name, scoring 31 goals and conceding 18 – the 1998-99 side had scored 20 at the same stage but let in only 10, even after the Liverpool match.

Emery renaissance

Villa’s resurgence under Emery dates back to last season, when he took over a team sitting a point above the relegation zone after three wins in 13 games under predecessor Steven Gerrard and lifted them to seventh place and qualification for the Europa Conference League.

He has won 30 of his 48 games in charge in all competitions, 62.5 per cent, with 13 losses and only five draws. His team have scored 94 goals and conceded 58.

Since Emery’s first game on November 1 last year, Villa rank fourth in the Premier League points table with 77 from 38 games – one match fewer than the other teams in the top five, and only two points behind third-ranked Liverpool. They are third for this calendar year, when their 22 Premier League wins are a club record.

Villa Park has become a fortress, with 13 consecutive home league wins marking their longest run of the Premier League era – they last won 13 straight home top-flight games back in 1983. They are also the league’s top scorers at home this season with 23 goals in six matches.

A high defensive line has played a role in Emery’s success, with Villa catching opponents offside 166 times since he took over. That is a remarkable 75 more than any other Premier League team, with Liverpool at 93 in that time, and more than double Fulham’s third-placed total of 82.

While seven goals are enough to make Ollie Watkins their top league goalscorer this season, Douglas Luiz is just behind with five and of their nine different scorers, all bar Jacob Ramsey have netted more than once.

What the papers say

Portuguese winger Jota is reportedly looking to reunite with his former Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham, the Sun reports. However Postecoglou is unsure if the club will make a move for the 24-year-old. Jota currently plays for Al-Ittihad in the Saudi Pro League.

The Daily Express reports Manchester United have joined the ever-growing race to sign Brentford striker Ivan Toney. Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham are also interested in the 27-year-old.

The Manchester Evening News says Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi has ruled out a mid-season move to Manchester United as he does not want to dampen his chances of being selected in England’s Euro 2024 squad.

Social media round-upPlayers to watch

Lucas Paqueta: Manchester City could reportedly lose interest in the West Ham midfielder if there is no resolution found over the gambling investigation into the midfielder, Football Transfers says.

Estevao Willian: Teamtalk reports the 16-year-old Brazilian is being chased by a plethora of clubs including Manchester City, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund.

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott threw three touchdowns as his side downed the Seattle Seahawks at home in a high-scoring 41-35 win.

The 30-year-old completed the winning play for the Cowboys, finding Jake Ferguson with just minutes left to win their fourth game in a row.

Prescott threw for just 299 yards, while his opposing quarterback Geno Smith threw for 334 yards, matching Prescott with three touchdowns.

The Seahawks led at halftime 21-20, thanks to two touchdowns from DK Metcalf and one from Zach Charbonnet, with Smith grabbing his own touchdown just two minutes into the second half.

But the Cowboys refused to go away, scoring a touchdown in the third quarter through Tony Pollard to stay within touching distance.

In the final quarter, Metcalf ran over for his third touchdown for the Seahawks, giving his side an eight-point lead with less than 15 minutes left.

But the Cowboys rallied again with two field goals and the Ferguson touchdown pushing them to nine wins on the season.

Former British number one Johanna Konta announced her retirement from tennis on this day in 2021.

Konta, then 30, had struggled with a persistent knee problem and slipped to 113th in the rankings.

She made the announcement on social media with a post headed ‘Grateful’.

She wrote: “This is the word that I’ve probably used the most during my career and is the word that I feel explains it best in the end.

“My playing career has come to an end, and I am so incredibly grateful for the career that it turned out to be. All the evidence pointed towards me not ‘making’ it in this profession.

“However my luck materialised in the people that came into my life and impacted my existence in ways that transcended tennis.

“I am so incredibly grateful for these people. You know who you are. Through my own resilience and through the guidance of others, I got to live my dreams. I got to become what I wanted and said as a child.

“How incredibly fortunate I count myself to be. How grateful I am.”

Born in Australia to Hungarian parents, Konta moved to Europe to pursue her tennis career as a teenager, settling with her family in Eastbourne and becoming a British citizen in 2012.

A relatively late developer, Konta’s emergence at the top of the game began in 2015, and the following year she reached her first grand slam semi-final at the Australian Open and climbed into the top 10.

Her best season was arguably in 2017, when she became the first British player since Virginia Wade to make the semi-finals at Wimbledon, won the biggest of her four career titles at the Miami Open, and peaked at fourth in the rankings.

Konta slipped down the rankings in 2018 but was resurgent the following year, making another grand slam semi-final at the French Open as well as quarter-finals at Wimbledon and the US Open.

Her final match was a three-set loss to Karolina Muchova at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati.

She made no secret of her desire to start a family – something she did not want to do alongside her career – and gave birth to daughter Emmeline the following September.

Tristan Jarry scored into an empty net and stopped 39 shots to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-2 comeback win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.

With the Penguins protecting a 3-2 lead, Jarry stopped a dump-in and sent the puck end-to-end with 68 seconds remaining.

Jarry is the fourth goalie to score in the past 10 years, and 14th overall in the regular season. He is the first Penguins netminder to score a goal.

Jeff Carter scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Sidney Crosby and Drew O’Connor also found the back of the net for Pittsburgh, which is 2-0-1 in its last three games.

Steven Stamkos and Tanner Jeannot had first-period goals as Tampa Bay dropped its third straight following a 4-0-1 surge.

Dewar has hat trick in Wild’s win

Connor Dewar recorded his first career hat trick and added an assist as the Minnesota Wild rolled to a 6-1 rout, ending the Nashville Predators’ six-game winning streak.

Dewar appeared to score a fourth goal with just over four minutes remaining but was taken away after the Wild were ruled to be offside after a video review.

Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and an assist for the Wild, who have won both games under new coach John Hynes.

Hynes served as Nashville’s coach for parts of four seasons before being relieved of his duties this past offseason by new general manager Barry Trotz.

Marner carries Maple Leafs to shootout win

Mitch Marner scored three times in regulation and added the shootout winner to lift the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-3 win over the Seattle Kraken.

Marner ended an eight-game drought with his second career hat trick, also accomplished in a four-goal game against Detroit on Feb. 26, 2022.

Auston Matthews also scored in the shootout and had two assists to help the Leafs improve to 5-1-1 in their last seven games.

Jared McCann scored twice as Seattle lost its third in a row (0-2-1).

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp declared himself satisfied with the 4-0 victory over LASK which secured top spot in their Europa League group with a match to spare.

Two goals from Cody Gakpo and one apiece from Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah, his 199th for the club, saw them coast past the Austrians at Anfield.

Toulouse’s draw with Union Saint-Gilloise meant Klopp’s side cannot be caught at the top and crucially that means avoiding the play-off round when the competition restarts in February.

“Two top results for us tonight in the group,” said Klopp.

“It was clear, with the defeat at Toulouse (last time out) we made it a bit more tricky but because of our result and their result we are now top of the table and that will not change.

“That’s good, very important in the busy schedule we have from now on.

“A lot of positives in the game, a lot of good football. The thing I didn’t like too much, and told the boys at half-time, (was) this game should have been put to bed already at half-time.

“You cannot play better, you cannot set it up better, (but) you can finish it better obviously – but we didn’t.

“Caoimhin (Kelleher) worked for his clean sheet, which he desperately wanted, and that’s good.

“We scored a fourth goal in the last minute or whatever, so result top, performance really good (and) nobody got injured. All good.”

Liverpool are favourites for the Europa League but having put themselves firmly in the title race the demands on Klopp’s side are likely to be significant when the competition resumes.

However, the Reds boss refused to relegate Europe to a second-tier ambition.

“Unfortunately, my career is not like this where I can choose, to be honest,” he added.

“I have to take what I get. When we play the competition it’s the most important competition on the planet. Easy as that.

“But now we play Premier League on Sunday (at home to Fulham) and so that is then the most important competition, definitely.

“We want to go as far as somehow possible (in the Europa League).”

Gakpo said the squad were determined to compete in all competitions they were in.

“We have to keep going because we have big goals for the season. That’s it,” he told TNT Sports.

“We just have to keep going and win as much as possible. We have a lot of quality in the group and I think with this quality we can win a lot of games.”

Philippe Clement insists Rangers will be going all out to secure Europa League football against Real Betis after struggling to a 1-1 draw against Aris Limassol at Ibrox.

The Light Blues, who had suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to the Cypriot side on matchday two, struggled after falling behind after 28 minutes to a Shavy Babicka goal.

Clement replaced Todd Cantwell with 20-year-old Ross McCausland before the break and the young Northern Ireland international, who signed a new deal earlier in the week, levelled early in the second half with his first Gers goal.

Rangers moved on to eight points, one behind Real Betis whom they play in the final Group C game in Spain on December 14.

Sparta Prague are on seven points and Aris Limassol are on four and although a spot in the Europa Conference League is assured for the Light Blues, only a victory in Spain can guarantee progression in the Europa League.

Clement said: “We have everything to win there.

“We already have European football in the new year but we can also win the group.

“So for sure that is going to be the idea – to win the game and end the group in the right way.

“There are still a few weeks and I have time to think and see what the team situation is.”

The Belgian revealed he took Cantwell off to get more width into the team.

He said: “I had to make a change early, something I don’t like to do.

“But we were missing with width on our right side and missing running players in behind the defence there.

“I gave that message a few times to Todd but he kept coming into the ball all the time, so that’s why I made the change to put Ross in, who is more of that profile.

“Todd’s best position is elsewhere but we have been in the situation where we haven’t had a lot of players on the right side.

“Scott Wright was not available, and Ross [McCausland] is coming out of the academy and taking his first steps and he is not ready to shine every three days, and play every 90 minutes; that’s impossible.

“And Rabbi Matondo was injured. So we have had a lot of problems in the last couple of weeks. Players are coming back, but we have to work hard.

“I know Todd’s best position is as a number 10, or coming off the left side, so I’m really happy with him, what he has showed for the team in the last couple of weeks because he played that position, and he can play that position.”

Aris Limassol boss Aleksey Shpilevsky claimed the unbeaten double against the Glasgow giants was a “miracle” as he expressed disappointment at leaving with only a point which ends their European journey this season.

He said: “The fact that we are undefeated against this big team, it is like a miracle not only for Aris but for all of Cyprus.

“What the guys are doing, with our budget, with our conditions, perhaps you can show the guys our training pitch and what it looks like then you will laugh at this, that makes it absolutely amazing.

“We are very disappointed about the fact that we didn’t manage to win.

“It was possible. It was not the best game from our side but we didn’t allow too many chances for Rangers, the way it might be expected.

“It is always crazy and always upset to lose a goal like that and that’s why I am disappointed about a draw in Ibrox against an amazing club, amazing fans, amazing atmosphere but it was possible but we have to accept it.”

Arsenal have approached Ben White to begin talks over extending the defender’s contract at the Emirates Stadium.

White, 26, joined the Gunners from Brighton for £50million in 2021 and has since established himself as Mikel Arteta’s first-choice right-back.

The England international has made 103 appearances for Arsenal and returned from injury off the bench in Wednesday’s 6-0 Champions League win over Lens.

The PA news agency understands sporting director Edu has led the decision to drive negotiations with White as a reward for his form, despite the fact the former Leeds loanee has two and a half years remaining on his contract.

If a new deal is agreed, White would become the latest of Arteta’s major names to extend his stay in north London.

First-team regulars Bukayo Saka, William Saliba, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes have all signed new contracts since October 2022, as have Aaron Ramsdale, Reiss Nelson and Mohamed Elneny.

Rangers’ European journey will continue into 2024 but a disconcerting 1-1 draw with Aris Limassol means a wait until the final Group C fixture to see if progress will be in the Europa League.

The Light Blues had suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to the Cypriot side on matchday two following the departure of boss Michael Beale and on a freezing evening in Govan they were in trouble again in the 28th minute when Shavy Babicka scored on the break.

Boss Philippe Clement replaced Todd Cantwell with Ross McCausland before the break and the young Northern Ireland attacker scored his first Gers goal early in the second half to level.

A poor first-half performance improved only marginally and although Clement remains unbeaten in nine games, there were boos at the end.

Rangers moved on to eight points, one behind Real Betis whom they play in the final Group C game in Spain next month, with Sparta Prague on seven and  Aris Limassol on four and there are permutations in terms of finishing in the top two but at least third place and a spot in the Europa Conference League is guaranteed.

Clement had some reshuffling to do for the visit of the group’s bottom side.

With Connor Goldson suspended and Leon Balogun not in the European squad, the Belgian had to change his centre-back pairing with Ben Davies and John Souttar coming in.

Attacking midfielder Sam Lammers came in for Tom Lawrence but he miskicked from 12 yards in the sixth minute as Rangers began to build some momentum.

However, in the 11th minute Gers keeper Jack Butland had to produce a fine save from a 25-yard thunderbolt from Aris left-back Caju, the home side surviving the corner.

Rangers struggled to click into gear and there was no surprise when they fell behind to the visiting side growing in belief.

After Cantwell had conceded possession in the Aris half, Aleksandr Kokorin’s long pass split Souttar and Davies and Gabon striker Babicka skipped past the latter and then rounded Butland before knocking the ball into the empty net.

As Ibrox continued to grumble in frustration, Kokorin hammered the ball over the bar from 12 yards before boos accompanied Clement’s 35th-minute substitution of Cantwell for 20-year-old winger McCausland, who signed a new deal earlier in the week.

The fans’ ire, though, was mostly directed at Lammers who was having a wretched game but there were more general boos at half-time.

However, three minutes after the restart McCausland had the stadium cheering when he took a pass from Danilo, who had taken advantage of a sloppy throw-in, and drilled the ball low into the net off the far post.

Rangers fans urged their side to inject pace into their game and they were happy to see Lawrence replace Lammers in the 57th minute, just before striker Danilo failed to control a pass from skipper James Tavernier inside the box.

In the 63rd minute, after Rangers broke with pace, McCausland had a shot blocked inside the Aris penalty area after playing an elongated one-two with Lawrence before a Danilo header tested Aris goalkeeper and captain Vana.

Rabbi Matondo took over from Abdallah Sima in the 79th minute but it never really looked like the winner would come and indeed Aris had a few forays in the final minutes, also to no avail.

The journey moves on to Seville but Rangers have to show much more than they did against a very ordinary Aris Limassol team.

Liverpool cruised into the Europa League knock-out stages with a match to spare as a 4-0 victory over LASK confirmed their place as group winners.

Early goals from Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo were enhanced by a second-half Mohamed Salah penalty – his 199th goal for the club – and an added-time strike by Gakpo as Toulouse’s draw with Union Saint-Gilloise means a dreaded round-of-32 play-off was avoided.

That mere fact alone will have delighted manager Jurgen Klopp, whose pre-match press conference had been littered with references to the intense December period ahead, but a club-record 12 points in the group stage shows how dominant the tournament favourites have been.

The Reds’ 100 percent home record was extended to 10 games and a third successive Anfield clean sheet for the first time since October 2022 means they have only conceded four times in front of their own fans while scoring 30.

In reality, that record was never in danger as the Austrians are the weakest side in the group and that frailty was exposed twice inside three minutes early on by a home side registering nine changes, with only Salah and left-back Kostas Tsimikas retained from the weekend draw at Manchester City.

A move which started on the left ended up on the right from where Joe Gomez crossed for Diaz to stoop and power home a twisting header.

The second goal came from the same flank as Salah, teed up by Diaz, picked out Gakpo at the far post for the simplest of close-range volleyed finishes.

Tsimikas smashed a fierce drive against the crossbar and the overwhelming confidence of the hosts was exemplified by Gomez, who has never scored in eight years at the club, drilling a 25-yard shot just wide.

Much of the half appeared to revolve in getting Salah to his double century as the team tried to pick him out at every opportunity, whether he be menacingly poised on the shoulder of the last defender or inside the penalty area.

Two chances went begging when his angled shot turned into more of a cross but still evaded Gakpo before he fired tamely at the goalkeeper.

Six minutes into the second half Salah finally found the net but he owed it all to Gakpo.

The Netherlands international’s short through-ball to Diaz missed his intended target but the Dutchman was alert enough to chase his own pass and somehow get there before goalkeeper Tobias Lawal, who brought him down.

Lawal showed a similar lack of reaction in watching Salah tuck the penalty into the corner of the net without even attempting a dive.

That was enough to put the result beyond doubt but the feeling was there were more goals to be had as Gakpo hit the base of a post from outside the area, although the Dutchman eventually got a deserved second in added time.

The arrival of Darwin Nunez, and to a lesser extent Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones, livened up proceedings, with the former putting in one of his now typical all-action hit-and-miss performances.

It erred more towards the latter as, after Harvey Elliott’s deflected shot was repelled by the goalkeeper’s legs as he dived the other way, the Uruguay international had one effort diverted wide and then shot straight at Lawal from eight yards.

Marin Ljubcic blazed over the visitors’ best chance with only Caoimhin Kelleher to beat and the Liverpool goalkeeper, set for his longest run in the side due to Alisson Becker being sidelined for a fortnight with a hamstring injury, did not have anything to do until the last 20 minutes.

When he was called upon he was not flustered, coming out to smother Ibrahim Mustapha, repelling Moses Usor’s shot and producing a reaction stop from LASK’s top scorer Robert Zulj, but even Sunday’s shot-shy visitors Fulham – scorers of only 13 goals in as many games – will provide a sterner test.

Tiger Woods felt sore “everywhere” after making his comeback at the Hero World Challenge on Thursday but the 15-time major winner could not hide the smile on his face after his first competitive round since April.

Woods was eight shots off the pace set by Brian Harman and Tony Finau in the Bahamas, dropping four shots in three holes between the 15th and 17th to finish three over par in a share of 18th place.

But for the 47-year-old, it felt good to blow off some cobwebs after undergoing ankle surgery in April.

“I’m sore, there’s no doubt about that,” Woods said. “We’ve got some work to do tonight. Tomorrow get back in the gym and activate and get ready for it. Hopefully hit some better shots.

“And now I know mentally what I need to do better. I think that’s something that physically I knew I was going to be OK. Mentally, I was really rusty and made a lot of errors in the mind that normally I don’t make.”

Asked where he felt sore, Woods added: “Everywhere…My leg, my back, my neck. Just from playing, hitting shots and trying to hold off shots. It’s just different at game speed, too. Game speed’s a lot different than at home speed.”

Woods birdied the third and fifth holes, but bogeys on the fourth and sixth immediately cancelled those out. He put the mental errors he made down to a lack of rhythm after so long out.

“Instead of reacting to it, I was thinking about doing it,” he said. “Then as I was thinking about it, should I do this or not, by then I’m pulling the trigger. I shouldn’t really pull the trigger. Hit a bad shot. I kept doing it time and time again.

“It was a lack of commitment to what I was doing and feeling. I’ve got to do a better job of it…

“I wanted to compete, I wanted to play. I felt like I was ready to compete and play. I hit it solid most of the day. As I said, I just didn’t mentally do the things I normally would do and I need to do.”

Captain Lewis Dunk says Brighton are dreaming of Europa League glory after securing a spot in the knockout stages on a historic day for the club.

Albion guaranteed a top-two finish in Group B with a game to spare thanks to an unconvincing 1-0 victory away to 10-man AEK Athens.

Joao Pedro’s 55th-minute penalty proved the difference against the Greek champions as the Seagulls set aside a disjointed display to progress ahead of a final-round fixture at home to Marseille on December 14.

Defender Dunk is determined to finish in first place in the pool in order to advance directly to the last 16 and avoid a knockout round play-off against a team falling out of the Champions League.

“The next game, we’ve got to win, we’ve got to top the group,” he told Brighton’s website. “I think that’s massive, you miss a round out.

“That’s our next aim in this competition but who knows how far we can go?

“We want to win it and you’ve got to dream big to achieve it. We’re going to set our sights on reaching the final and winning it.”

Brighton, who are enjoying their maiden European adventure, were second best in the first half at AEK Arena and fortunate not to fall behind when Steven Zuber’s shot deflected off Dunk and struck a post.

The contest turned during a pivotal 10-minute second-half spell in which Pedro converted a VAR-awarded penalty after being fouled by AEK captain Damian Szymanski and Mijat Gacinovic was dismissed for a second booking.

Following back-to-back successes over four-time European champions Ajax, Albion jubilantly celebrated another famous win with the travelling fans.

England international Dunk, who made his senior debut when the Seagulls were a League One side, acknowledged the visitors were forced to dig deep.

“It’s massive,” the 32-year-old said of the result. “I think you can see in the celebration at the end what it means.

“It’s a historic day for the football club.

“We came into this tournament to qualify out of the group and we’ve done that tonight.

“It wasn’t the prettiest of our performances but sometimes you’ve got to win like that and it’s all credit to us.”

Pedro’s successful spot-kick was his fifth goal in the competition and backed up his match-winning brace as a substitute in Saturday’s 3-2 Premier League victory at Nottingham Forest.

Dunk, whose right shoulder was taped up at full-time, was sent off at the City Ground and will miss Sunday’s trip to Chelsea due to suspension.

“(I’m) just nursing a few injuries but you just get on with them,” he replied when asked about the strapping.

“Frustrating not to be out there (at Stamford Bridge), it’s my fault and I’ve got to deal with that myself.”