MARTIN KEOWN: Marcus Rashford has proved he DOES still belong at the top level after resurgence under Unai Emery, but this Aston Villa star is the key to Spaniard's machine

Unai Emery is taking Aston Villa to new-found heights. They are still in the hunt for the Champions League top five places, fighting to become European champions and two games away from lifting the FA Cup.

Even the great Villa sides of the 1980s that won league titles and European Cups were never so deep in so many glittering competitions in the same season as they are right now. This could be their most successful ever season.

Emery has carefully rebuilt Villa with real vision and has now created an expectation for success. He’s given Villa the perfect platform to journey through a minefield of difficult fixtures that will ultimately define their season and their history.

A week that started in the FA Cup against Preston and a very impressive victory against Brighton now takes them up against high-flying Nottingham Forest before a Champions League double header against Paris Saint-Germain and an FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace also on the horizon.

Emery has been decisive in the transfer market, both in the summer and in January. The experience he has brought into the dressing room in the form of Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio, both on the scoresheet against Brighton, have both been crucial.

Rashford and Emery has now become the perfect marriage. It was a huge risk to bring a player in that seemed to have gone off the rails at Manchester United. Most managers might be concerned about signing such a high-profile player with so little game-time and a lot of speculation around the reasons why he was not making it out on the pitch. Rashford had very few takers but Emery ignored the noise and took a chance.

Marcus Rashford has saved his career since joining Aston Villa on loan from Man United

Although Rashford has stolen the headlines, Boubacar Kamara has been Aston Villa's real difference-maker since returning from injury

Villa sit seventh in the table, four points off Chelsea in fourth - and three off City in fifth - which will likely be a good enough finish to qualify for the Champions League

Now, Rashford is proving he can still perform at the top level and has resurrected his international career. That shows you the benefit of being at a club with a good culture, a settled platform, and a manager who has a clear vision for you. Rashford should send Emery a hamper every Christmas to thank the Villa boss for saving his career.

His flexibility has given Emery the valuable opportunity to start him up front and give Ollie Watkins valuable rest as he carries a niggling knee injury.

Rashford has claimed the headlines but he is only one player in Emery’s well-built machine.

Having Boubacar Kamara fit again gives Villa more flexibility in their build-up. He drops into the back line which allows both full-backs to get forward. Lucas Digne down the left is one of the most creative full-backs in the Premier League.

Youri Tielemans is having his best-ever season alongside Kamara and has said whenever he gets the ball his first thought is to find Morgan Rogers, who sits in the pocket next to Asencio to form that box midfield Emery loves to use to control matches. Rogers set up two of the goals in the win against Brighton.

Villa will need that control this weekend if they are to keep the Nottingham Forest runaway train at bay.

No team is happier without the ball than Nuno Espirito Santo’s side. They are currently averaging just 39 per cent possession, less than Leicester when they won the title in 2015-16.

They snap at your heels like Jack Russells and when they win the ball back off you they fly forward like Olympic sprinters.

Youri Tielemans is playing the best football of his career alongside Kamara in Villa's midfield

Naturally, they looked fatigued against Manchester United after three successive periods of FA Cup extra-time starts to take its toll but they still had that explosive counter-attack when it mattered as Anthony Elanga ran 85 metres in nine seconds to score the winner. Forest might be at their most dangerous when their opponents have a corner.

Both Emery and Nuno have their teams riding a crest of a wave and are candidates for manager of the year as their clubs enjoy a great renaissance.

For the generation of fans growing up through the 1980s, these two teams were always at the top end of the table and have won three European Cups between them.

Villa are in the Champions League for the first time in over 40 years – and have a chance to win it if they can get past PSG.

Forest are looking to follow in their footsteps to get back on to European football’s top table. If they win at Villa Park on Saturday, that goes a long way to securing that incredible dream.

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