For the first time in over a year, Aston Villa have lost at home. The loss continues a poor record against Oliver Glasner for Unai Emery, who talked about being "sad for the supporters" after the final whistle.
‘The second goal was the difficult moment’
Emery's men have proudly defended Villa Park as a fortress. Since 24 August 2024, the day of a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal, they had not lost at home in any competition. This result marks an end to the run.
“I’m sad for the supporters and sad for the result after we were being successful here at home for a long time without losing,”
Palace have been unbeaten with a familiar blueprint. They had less of the ball, but their disciplined 5-2-3 block has only shipped one goal in five fixtures across European and domestic competitions since the Community Shield. In one moment, Jean-Philippe Mateta made the task of a win harder for Villa.
*“We played the first half good, but we needed more offensively. We had one very good chance with Ollie Watkins, and we didn’t concede a lot, but we made one mistake, and they scored.*
Emery explained how he tried to rally the players to perform even better for the fans after the restart.
“In the second half, we were trying to speak about how we played the first half and how we were keeping the same game plan and trying to do something more, and we started very well.”
Marc Guehi grabbed a worldie to double the lead for the visitors, and Ismaila Sarr scored a fifth goal against Villa in his last three outings against the side, sealing the points for Palace well before full time.
“We were dominating, getting in their box and creating some chances, but the second goal was the difficult moment, and the third goal was punishing.”
Villa were the inferior outfit in the 0-0 draw with Newcastle United and looked short of ideas on the ball in a 1-0 loss to Brentford. A poor start to the season has worsened, but Emery is trying to stay calm.
“We have to accept this defeat and try to keep balance. Overall, we are being successful, but we can feel more frustrated when we are losing like today.”
The manager must hold fire with his plans to refine the team as the international break begins.
“Now we’re going into a break and we’re going to have a lot of players with their national teams.”