March in quotes

The first quarter of 2026 is now over, with Aston Villa ending March while still competing on two fronts this season. Unai Emery’s men will enter April fourth in the Premier League table, as well as preparing to take on Bologna over two legs in the Quarter-Finals of the UEFA Europa League. While the month did not start ideally for the Villans, who lost 4-1 at home to Chelsea, they made their way past LOSC Lille 3-0 on aggregate in the Europa League Round of 16, winning both legs as John McGinn returned from injury. And, despite falling to defeat on the road at Manchester United, Youri Tielemans’ return to action made for a perfect afternoon as March drew to a close at Villa Park, with Emery’s charges beating West Ham United 2-0 before the players headed off on international duty. Elsewhere, Richard Beale’s Under-18s bowed out of the FA Youth Cup, losing 3-2 late on against Crystal Palace at Villa Park, while maintaining an unbeaten month in the league with two wins and a draw from their three encounters. And it was a more positive March for Natalia Arroyo’s Women, who started the month by holding league leaders Manchester City to a goalless draw in B6, before beating Leicester City away from home and narrowly losing out 4-3 at Chelsea. Here is the month of March 2026 in quotes… “We are every day trying to recover our good form and our confidence, and tomorrow, Chelsea is our opponent, and, of course, it’s a tough match.” - Unai Emery (March 3 – Ahead of Aston Villa’s Premier League clash with Chelsea at Villa Park) “We just lost everything. I think we lost the focus, how we have to press, how we have to play. We lost some confidence, (and) we have to find our way again. We have to fight.” - Douglas Luiz (March 4 – After Villa lost their opening game of the month, 4-1 at the hands of Chelsea ) “We’re in a bad moment. We need to work to recover our structure tactically, offensively and defensively, trying to get comfortable with each one.” - Unai Emery (March 4 – After his Aston Villa side fell to a heavy 4-1 defeat at home to Chelsea) “Everyone’s working very hard and looking forward to the game, preparing for Tuesday night and what will be another tough encounter.” - Richard Beale (March 9 – Ahead of Villa’s FA Youth Cup Quarter-Final clash with Crystal Palace at Villa Park) “Obviously, playing at Villa Park is a big thing, and many people’s first time playing there, so I feel like now it’s actually come around, everyone’s excited and ready to play Palace.” - Jack McGrath (March 9 – As he and his teammates prepared to take on Crystal Palace at Villa Park in the FA Youth Cup) “It was a bit of a sickener with the late goals. We missed a fair few chances during the game and I feel that we were the dominant team. To not come away with the win is really, really disappointing.” - Richard Beale (March 10 – After Villa’s Under-18s bowed out of the FA Youth Cup, conceding two late goals in a 3-2 defeat to Crystal Palace at Villa Park) “It feels amazing and I’m really happy to be here around the girls, around the team. It’s a great environment we have, so I’m buzzing to be here.” - Miri Taylor (March 11 – After signing a new contract with Aston Villa Women) “Tomorrow, I expect a very difficult match, and I expect as well, we must be so, so focused tactically in everything.” - Unai Emery (March 11 – Ahead of Villa’s UEFA Europa League Round of 16 first-leg trip to LOSC Lille) “Coming here this time, having had that experience, having understood the crowd, you're always going to be that little bit better than you were then, of having to deal with it and cope with it.” - Morgan Rogers (March 11 – Ahead of Villa’s away clash with Lille, two years on from a Conference League victory in France) “We played very seriously. We were always organised, and we played trying to defend strongly, trying to feel comfortable defending as well, and trying to get some transition with the ball and to dominate with the ball, and we did it.” - Unai Emery (March 12 – After a professional performance from his side saw them take a 1-0 lead into the second leg of their Europa League last 16 tie against Lille) “It was great. I felt really good out there tonight, and hopefully I do again for Sunday.” - John McGinn (March 12 – After returning from injury as a second-half substitute against Lille at Stade Pierre-Mauroy) “Everything I did is done. For me, it's now the moment, and now the future, and now, of course, with Aston Villa how we can add more victories.” - Unai Emery (March 12 – After achieving his 100th win in charge of Aston Villa against Lille in the Europa League) “So far, so good. It hasn’t been a good couple of months for us, we haven’t got results that we needed. But we knew how big today was, we needed to win.” - Ezri Konsa (March 12 – At the halfway stage of Villa’s Europa League Round of 16 clash with Lille) “We are going to face Manchester United on Sunday and they are now feeling confident, they’re strong at home, they’re playing good football and they have very good players.” - Unai Emery (March 13 – Ahead of his side’s trip to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United) “We know how difficult the challenge will be. Almost nobody, only Arsenal, was able to beat them. They are definitely strong and they are committed to winning the league. We know this is not where we are, but I think we can compete against them.” - Natalia Arroyo (March 13 – As Aston Villa Women prepare to take on Women’s Super League leaders Manchester City at Villa Park) “I’m really happy. I’ve been at this club since I was 15/16, so it’s such a proud feeling. To know that everyone’s backing me for the future is really nice.” - Georgia Mullett (March 14 – After putting pen to paper on a new contract with Aston Villa Women) “We need to be together, we need to be working with our supporters, trying to help everybody. We need to work hard like we are doing and try to get good results. Today we lost, but we will keep going forward like we did before.” - Unai Emery (March 15 – After his side fell to a 3-1 defeat away to Manchester United at Old Trafford) “I’ve been working hard, I’ve had a few injuries throughout the season so things haven’t gone my way. I was happy to get the start and get the goal, but the result isn’t great.” - Ross Barkley (March 15 – After netting on his first Premier League start in over a year, as Villa fell to a 3-1 defeat at Manchester United) “It feels really good. I was seeing the fans smiling, celebrating, so I’m happy that we could give them the type of performance we want to give them.” - Natalia Arroyo (March 15 – After Aston Villa held leaders Manchester City to a goalless draw at Villa Park in WSL) “We’ve not been performing how we wanted to perform in the past few games. Today, the grit, the determination, it was a shift from everybody.” - Ellie Roebuck (March 15 – After keeping a clean sheet in Villa’s goalless draw with Man City at Villa Park in WSL) “We’re going to try and win the game and try to score first, which is the objective in every game but it’s more important now to get a two-goal advantage to kick on and qualify for the quarter-finals.” - John McGinn (March 18 – Ahead of Aston Villa’s Europa League last 16 second-leg clash with Lille at Villa Park) “Of course, we won the first match. It’s very important, this result, but it’s not enough, I know it. And we must play now at home with our supporters, and we must play trying to carry on the same gameplan we had there.” - Unai Emery (March 18 – Speaking on the importance of finishing the tie, ahead of Villa’s second leg against Lille) “I felt most of the responsibility to get us back going again. I realise what we’ve done to make this place a fortress, trying to tackle hard and get about the pitch.” - John McGinn (March 19 – After netting the opening goal in Villa’s 2-0 second-leg win over Lille at Villa Park) “It’s fantastic. Two years ago we played the quarter-final of the Conference League and last year we played a Champions League quarter-final and this year we’re going to play a quarter-final of the Europa League.” - Unai Emery (March 19 – After his side booked their place in a third successive European Quarter-Final with victory over Lille at Villa Park) “I felt good. If we keep the momentum and hard work, I feel like we can get results back to how they were.” - Jadon Sancho (March 19 – After putting in a Player of the Match performance as Villa eased past Lille in the Europa League Round of 16) “This is the Premier League. But now how they are, and how they are competing, and how they are going to face us on Sunday, is really difficult, a very difficult match.” - Unai Emery (March 20 – Ahead of Villa’s Premier League visit of West Ham United) “We were in their shoes seven years ago and we know how it feels. We just have to be ready. They’re going to come at us all guns blazing. We have to win and they have to win.” - Ezri Konsa (March 20 – On the challenge West Ham will provide, ahead of Premier League action at Villa Park) “We know that games in the Premier League are very difficult. This game is not more or less difficult, every game is the same. We just need to focus on ourselves: how we train and how we’re preparing the game plan to win the game.” - Douglas Luiz (March 20 – Ahead of Villa’s clash with relegation-threatened West Ham United ) “Massive for us. We had a really positive performance last week. To come here, we knew it was going to be hard, but to get the win was massive, especially when we went 1-0 down.” - Anna Patten (March 22 – After Aston Villa Women came from behind to beat Leicester City 2-1 in WSL) “Not the prettiest game, but we were not expecting that here anyway. When you concede a goal and you need to find a way in the second half, you can play the game in two directions. I think we were smart. We needed the win and we deserved it.” - Natalia Arroyo (March 22 – After a comeback victory over Leicester City in the Women’s Super League) “We won because we were setting our gameplan strongly in the direction we planned before the match. The players responded fantastically.” - Unai Emery (March 22 – After his side recorded a comfortable victory over West Ham United at Villa Park) “All the teams around us played before and dropped points, so we knew the job at hand today. We’ve taken that and maximised our opportunity to push on and get into those Champions League spots.” - Ollie Watkins (March 22 – After netting in Villa’s final outing ahead of the international break against West Ham United) “John is a player who can do everything. I think these types of players are high-quality players; we know what Youri is capable of. I think I, personally, missed him a lot. The team as well.” - Amadou Onana (March 22 – After John McGinn netted again and Youri Tielemans returned from injury against West Ham) “Not many players get the chance to play at Wembley, let alone score and win a trophy there, so as you can understand, this day is one of my big football highlights.” - Savo Milošević (March 24 – Looking back on the 30th anniversary of his wondergoal, as Villa lifted the 1996 League Cup at Wembley) “I expect an angry Chelsea. They have a squad, even if they have now, injuries, they have a mentality of playing every three days. They have this ability, that’s something we need to learn from these top teams.” - Natalia Arroyo (March 27 – Ahead of Villa’s final outing of the month is WSL, away to Chelsea) “It is tough, because I think we had a good game. It was a good performance, and frustrated to concede a goal at almost the last minute.” - Oriane Jean-François (March 30 – After Villa fell to a late 4-3 defeat away to Chelsea) “I think these types of performances when you are fighting so much and players are doing so much, it’s always frustration what you feel, especially because we were defending well.” - Natalia Arroyo (March 30 – After losing 4-3 late on to Chelsea)