FedExField in Maryland plays host to Brentford’s final fixture of the Premier League Summer Series on Sunday.

We caught up with John Townley, Aston Villa correspondent for Birmingham Live, to reflect on the last six months at Villa Park.

How much are Aston Villa looking forward to being part of the inaugural Premier League Summer Series?

Aston Villa have headed to the USA quite regularly for pre-season tours, and last spent time there in the summer of 2019 after winning promotion back to the Premier League through the Championship play-offs.

This time round, Villa are preparing for what promises to be an exciting Premier League season and their first campaign back in Europe since 2010.

It will give Unai Emery the perfect opportunity to continue installing his methods, having also had the World Cup break to work with the majority of his group.

It goes without saying that Unai Emery did a superb job at turning the fortunes around in his six months in charge, so how much anticipation is there ahead of his first full season in the job?

Emery wants to qualify for Champions League football with Villa, and while that could be a step too far next season, he has huge ambition.

Since he started work at Villa Park back in November, only Man City and Arsenal have collected more points. Villa's turnaround under him was nothing short of remarkable.

Next season, qualifying for a European competition will be seen as a success, given that we don’t know how the added games in the Europa Conference League could affect Villa’s campaign. There is a huge amount of excitement for the new season among the Villa fanbase.

At the time of speaking, Villa have signed Youri Tielemans on a free from Leicester City, Pau Torres from Villarreal for a reported £31.5m and Moussa Diaby from Bayer Leverkusen for £55m. In which other areas should they be looking to strengthen, do you think?

The fact Villa signed two players before their first pre-season friendly against Walsall, which was on 15 July, means they have made an excellent start to the summer window.

They have also seen ambitious moves for Juventus’ Federico Chiesa and Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams rebuffed.

A few players need to be moved on to balance the books, but I’m certain Villa will end the window in an even better place than they finished last season.

If you had to single out one Villa player to keep a close eye on this season, who would it be and why?

You could probably pick any one of 10 players. Emery has taken Villa to another level and improved almost every player in the squad he inherited from Steven Gerrard in the space of six months. They signed Boubacar Kamara from Marseille on a free transfer last summer, and he looks the real deal. He picked up a few impact injuries last season, which hampered his game time, but he is a top talent and I expect him to kick on next season and prove that he can be one of the best holding midfielders in the division. He is that good.

Can you remind us what Brentford might expect from the style of play under Emery?

I do not expect Emery to move away from the system he deployed last season, which was a 4-2-2-2.

In and out of possession this system will change, but Emery likes to use a double pivot in midfield, and asks his left-back - which is usually Alex Moreno, but he will be injured for the Brentford pre-season friendly - to push up high and play as a winger.

This allows Jacob Ramsey, who will also miss pre-season, to tuck inside, while John McGinn, Emi Buendia or Leon Bailey, and Ollie Watkins also make up the numbers in the final third.

While attacking, the two centre-backs and right-back will usually make up a back-three, while a holding midfielder will also provide cover, as Luiz tends to push on and support attacks too.

This is a very basic explanation of what to expect, and Emery will likely use these friendlies to tweak shapes and tactics ahead of the new campaign.

Brentford have been something of a bogey team for Villa over the years, who have won just one of the last 10 meetings stretching back to 2016. What’s your score prediction?

Brentford really did have Villa’s number before last season. No matter how good or poor Villa were in the Championship, they could never get the better of the Bees. Then, after failing to win against Brentford in the Premier League during 2021/22, Villa finally got the better of them in what was the club’s first game after sacking Steven Gerrard last season. Like the match at Gtech Community Stadium in April, I will predict a 1-1 draw for this one in Maryland.