Pep Guardiola presented his extensive admiration for Aston Villa manager Unai Emery as Manchester City travel to Villa Park on Sunday for the pair’s first meeting of the season.
City, who extended their unbeaten streak to nine games in all competitions in the Champions League in midweek, face off against an admittedly poor Villa side in comparison to where they would hope to be at this stage of the season.
Emery led his side to a disappointing defeat against Go Ahead Eagles in the Europa League on Thursday but that doesn’t discredit their strong attacking force, says Guardiola.
“The admiration I have for Unai [Emery] is so high,” the City manager said. “He is incredibly consistent, well-prepared and so smart. He’s really good.
“His team is so organised and their quality? They have everything. One of the toughest, toughest, toughest away games we have in the season.”
City and Villa last met in April (Photo by OLI SCARFF/Getty Images)
Emery has "a really complete team"
City are currently second in the Premier League table with 16 points from eight games — three behind leaders Arsenal but Guardiola’s 39 points since the start of April is more than any other team in the division.
In addition, Erling Haaland’s goalscoring form is relentless as of late and that could, and perhaps should, be a cause for concern for Emery’s side, who, despite their fluctuant start to the season, have “a really complete team,” according to the City manager.
“Offensively he is really good and set pieces also,” Guardiola said. “And after that he has a team that has improved a lot in the last years in terms of build-up and I think with the keeper they have, they have incredible build-up
“It is so difficult to control the pressing and they bring a lot of space in the middle, the connections between them are really good.
“Their holding midfielders connect really, really good to break the lines and when that happens they are so, so quick in the attack with the speed they have upfront, a part of that transition is their physicality.”