Vote for your April Player of the Month

Supporters can now vote for their Aston Villa Player of the Month for April 2025. 

Unai Emery's side contested eight games throughout the month, putting 12 more points on the Premier League board with crucial home victories over Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United, along with successive 3-0 triumphs on the road at Brighton & Hove Albion.

A difficult end to April saw Villa bow out of the FA Cup with a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace at Wembley at the semi-final stage, four days after falling to a late defeat on the road at Manchester City, having been knocked out of the Champions League earlier in the month in the quarter-finals over two legs by Paris Saint-Germain. 

Emery's men started April as they meant to go on, making the long trip to Brighton midweek and coming home with all three points after second-half goals from Marcus Rashford - his third in two games - and substitutes Marco Asensio and Donyell Malen, his first in Villa colours. 

Three days later and the Villans had put another big three points on the table. Early goals from Morgan Rogers and Malen saw them blow Nottingham Forest away at Villa Park, who did reduce the arrears through Jota Silva in the second half. 

A trip to Paris saw Villa suffer their first setback of the month, as PSG established a 3-1 advantage in the first leg of the two sides' Champions League quarter-final clash at the Parc des Princes. Rogers had given his team the lead to send the travelling supporters into raptures, though the hosts hit back through Désiré Doué, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Nuno Mendes. 

Villa bounced back impressively that weekend, travelling to the south coast and putting on a professional display to dispatch bottom club Southampton 3-0 at St Mary's. Second-half goals from Ollie Watkins, Malen and John McGinn sealed the points - the first time in Premier League history three substitutes had climbed off the bench and scored in the same match. 

And another memorable European night at Villa Park would follow that week, as Emery's charges went agonisingly close to tying up their quarter-final tie with PSG on aggregate, triumphing 3-2 on the night in B6 but losing 5-4 on aggregate. 

Things got off to the worst-possible start for those in claret and blue, as early goals from Achraf Hakimi and Mendes put the Parisians 5-1 up on aggregate. But Youri Tielemans' deflected strike just before the break gave Villa hope, and they came out for the second period firing. McGinn sent a wonderful effort swerving into the top corner before Ezri Konsa's strike triggered bedlam at Villa Park and had the Villans on the verge of something incredible, but they proved unable to find a further goal to send the tie to extra-time, and their incredible Champions League campaign came to an end.  

Villa again showed commendable character to respond from the setback of exiting the competition, as a sensational performance that weekend saw them defeat fellow top five hopefuls Newcastle United with a simply stunning home performance. Watkins struck just 33 seconds in to put Villa ahead, but Fabian Schär would restore parity for the visitors. 

However, a superb second-half surge from Emery's players saw Ian Maatsen notch his first Premier League goal before substitutes Jacob Ramsey and Amadou Onana wrapping up the three points - the winger's cross forcing an own goal from Dan Burn before Rogers teed up the Belgian midfielder who sent an unstoppable effort into the top corner from the edge of the box. 

The month would however end in disappointment for the Villans, with back-to-back defeats at the hands of Man City and Palace. Marcus Rashford's first-half penalty at the Etihad Stadium drew Villa level after Bernardo Silva's opener for City, but Villa would fall in stoppage time to Matheus Nunes' late winner, before goals from Ebere Eze and Ismaïla Sarr (2) saw the south London outfit comfortable beat Emery's side under the arch to book their spot in the FA Cup final and send Villa out.