ASTON VILLA currently ranks among the top teams in Europe… at least for the moment.

Under the management of Unai Emery, the team climbed to second place in the Champions League group stage with a solid 3-1 victory against Norwegian club Viking at Villa Park, marking their undefeated run of three wins.

First-half strikes from Ross Barkley and Emiliano Buendia helped them equal PSG and Liverpool with nine points each, while an own goal from Henrik Heggheim placed them second on goal difference, all this without the inclusion of newcomer Johan Manzambi.

With Emery at the helm, Villa fans are beginning to envision a deep run in Europe this season, with some hopeful supporters even contemplating the possibility of clinching the title, bolstered by the enthusiasm from their pre-match tifo display.

The Holte End showcased an enormous banner featuring the Villa Villain with the message: “We’ve conquered before, we’re prepared for more.”

Indeed, if anyone knows how to excel in European tournaments, it’s Spanish manager Emery, who recently led his team to triumph in the Europa League, matching only Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti with five European titles.

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If his team could play every match at Villa Park, they might even be considered favorites, with this victory marking an impressive ELEVEN consecutive home wins in European competitions – only Manchester United and Manchester City have registered more than ten in a row this century.

At halftime, Villa was holding second place, only trailing PSG at the top of the table.

However, the reality is they should have been leading after 26 minutes.

Nicolas Jackson had two headers denied by Arild Østbø within the first ten minutes before Barkley managed to convert, celebrating his goal from an Ibrahim Mbaye corner just 12 minutes later.

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The most significant miss of the night, and potentially for Villa this season, occurred just moments after. An Alysson cross deflected into the path of an unmarked Buendia, who squandered a six-yard opportunity – and to compound matters, the Argentine missed again before the half-hour mark.

Eventually, Buendia found the back of the net.

In a twist of fate, a trip by Zlatko Tripic resulted in a penalty after initially being waved off by the referee but awarded through VAR intervention.

Buendia confidently converted the penalty, rolling the ball into the bottom right corner and extending Villa’s lead before the interval.

Some may argue, “It’s only Viking…” and suggest that Villa should have kept a clean sheet against such rivals.

However, these critics forget that the Eliteserien champions recently drew 3-3 with Bayern Munich.

Any aspirations of scoring three at Villa Park were thwarted by Zion Suzuki, who is proving to be an excellent addition in goal.

Viking pressed forward more frequently in hopes of a second-half revival, but this left them vulnerable to Villa’s rapid counter-attacks, with Alysson inadvertently causing a Heggheim own goal with 30 minutes remaining.

During that half-hour, it appeared Villa was more likely to add to their tally rather than concede, with Jackson missing yet another opportunity before being substituted for Tammy Abraham as Emery made several tactical changes.

This resulted in the fans chanting “We are top of the league.”

Nevertheless, they dropped back to second place following an 84th-minute consolation goal from Peter Christiansen.

Villa’s upcoming Champions League fixture is against Barcelona in two weeks, followed by a challenging match against Galatasaray and a crucial test of their impeccable home record against PSG before Christmas.