Andoni Iraola spoke about his expectations of Aston Villa in their battle with Bournemouth.
Unai Emery is working wonders in the Midlands, and he has the respect of his compatriot.
The Villans bounced back from a four game scoreless streak and a five match winless run in the Premier League to get to the cusp of the European places in October. They have also won three of four **Europa League**fixtures and will be confident after a 2-0 victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv.
“[Thursday] was a good game also for them because they controlled very well the game. They won. It was not also a very demanding game physically, from the outside at least looking, and also they could manage the minutes almost from the players that mostly play and start the games. So I think it will not affect at all the game on Sunday.
*“We are facing them probably in the best moment of the season in the sense that after not a very good start they've gone to normal because they've been very good in the previous seasons. The two seasons I've been here, I think they've played Champions League, now Europa League.*
“So it's a team of that level and it's going to be another difficult one. I think we are coming from the City away game and now we are going to in a different way but it's going to be this level of difficulty.
“You know more or less what they are going to do, but they do it very well. They control different phases of the game very well. Set pieces, they are a danger playing from the back. They are good.
“They have also players up front who can play different positions and there is a reason they've been so, so successful past seasons and they are doing so, so well. So we need our top-level performance if we want to beat them because the level of the game overall I think is going to be high.
*“I don't know who is going to start. I suppose Ollie Watkins or Donyell Malen. Ollie Watkins normally also does good games against us. I remember him scoring important goals and it's never an easy position and an easy one to defend because he's good finisher but also he's versatile, can attack very well the spaces. So big challenges also for our centre backs. But this is the Premier League.*
“At the end when you are a defender in this kind of league, it’s okay, I'm marking this one. But next week is going to be similar and next week is going to be similar and I don't think it gets easier.
*“I think they've shown that, they finish higher than us in the previous seasons and they played last two seasons Champions League, Europa League and it's not that they played, they've been candidates to win it. They have achieved very important things playing with, especially with Unai. I wish we could get close at the end of the season, but it's going to be difficult because they are a very good team.”*