Unai Emery
Unai Emery
Unai Emery has admitted it is going to be 'very difficult' for his Aston Villa side against Newcastle United as the Spaniard spoke of his 'respect' for the Magpies.
Aston Villa go into the Boxing Day clash two places above Newcastle, in sixth, but the black-and-whites can leapfrog their fellow European hopefuls in the table with a win at St James' Park. Forward Morgan Rogers has already suggested there is 'no tougher game than Newcastle away' and Emery needs no reminding of that following last season's 5-1 hammering on the opening day.
"They are in good form and, of course, they played two years ago in the Champions League," the Aston Villa boss told reporters. "Their objective is clearly to be in Europe.
"He [Howe] was doing a fantastic job with Bournemouth. His teams are always more or less dynamic teams with intensity. They like to play with the ball and be aggressive in attack, attacking with a lot of players.
"They like to do a lot of duels on the field, man to man. They beat us last year two times and, of course, I respect them a lot.
"It is going to be very difficult because we know in Newcastle with their supporters, it is a very strong stadium for them, difficult for the opponent. More or less, they are being successful at home. They have lost some matches, but they are performing very well and winning a lot of matches.
"It is going to be very difficult. I respect the coach, I respect the players, I respect the club."