Unai Emery: Aston Villa faces tougher tests in the future.
After Sunday’s victory over Luton kept Villa level with the Premier League leaders, Unai Emery issued a warning, saying the team’s hardest tests are still ahead of them.
Villa’s 7th win in 10 Premier League games came against the Hatters, who now sit fifth in the standings, five points ahead of sixth-place Newcastle.
Even so, Emery is being cautious and thinks that more work needs to be done before his team can be considered a real contender for Champions League football, even though they have already collected 71 points from his 35 games in charge.
Villa lost both of its games this season, 8-1 overall, to Newcastle and Liverpool. Emery stated, “They were better than us on those days.” When we play the best teams, that is the actual situation.
“We’re going to play those kinds of games this season, and perhaps if we play Newcastle and Liverpool at home, we can improve on our current record.
“Hopefully, we can close the gap that separates us from them.
“I told the players that I wanted to close the gap between us and them in those games when we played them at home after we lost to Newcastle and Liverpool. We’ll demonstrate whether it’s feasible in those games.
Following their 12th straight league home victory on Sunday, Villa will have a rare quiet midweek before travelling to Nottingham Forest on Sunday of next week.
“We are winning games because we are very focused,” Emery went on. Our defensive structure is very demanding, and we strive to be a team with a high level of commitment among teammates.
“However, there are seven more teams (tough ones) that are prepared and capable of demonstrating their strength at any time.
Their goal is to rank among the top seven teams.
However, if we continue to work in this manner—that is, with strength, demand, improvement, commitment, and a constant pursuit of our highest potential—we will undoubtedly make progress and maintain the momentum we currently possess.
However, West Ham, Brighton, Manchester United, and Chelsea are all potential candidates to compete with us for a European spot.
“We won, I am very happy, but I think there’s still things that we can improve.”
Emery declared that Jhon Duran, the striker, had missed the game because of a toe infection.
