Aston Villa boss Unai Emery praised his players after our impressive 4-0 win over Bournemouth on Sunday.
Goals from Emiliano Buendia, Amadou Onana, Ross Barkley and Donyell Malen saw us run out comfortable winners in the end, but it did need a decisive display from Emiliano Martinez at the other end too.
Nevertheless, it’s another positive result as we continue to recover after a poor start to the season, with Villa now in seventh place in the Premier League standings as we continue to climb the table.
Naturally, Emery was pleased after the game and praised the effort that his players are putting in to get back on track, and it’s certainly a positive way to sign off ahead of the intentional break.
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“I am very happy with the win. We are recovering from a bad start to the season,” Emery said, as quoted by BBC Sport.
“The effort physically was a huge effort and to manage the squad with different players with the effort we needed we can feel proud after the game.
“This is the level of the players. We are trying to set our standards in everything, every day how we prepare the game and the quality of the players is important. Fantastic goal and Emi has this quality to score set piece goals. How the players got the commitment before the match to focus and in the way we played is really something. This is how we are building and trying to recover, feeling better in the league and Europa League to get the performances we need for the future.
“Now our balance is better in the squad with the players, more focus and getting the challenges we have. The players are responding well on the field.
“Very important how we finished today, winning and feeling good.”
The mood both within the camp and externally has undoubtedly changed over the past month or so, as not only have positive results started to come, but the performances have improved too.
This was arguably the most convincing yet as were excellent throughout and there was real quality to our goals, but naturally there is also the element of relying on Martinez protect our lead during a period of sustained pressure from the visitors in what was a decisive display from the Argentine shot-stopper.
In turn, there will still be room for improvement, but Villa can be pleased with this performance and outcome as well as our form in recent weeks, and we’ll hope to follow it up at Leeds United on November 23 after the international break concludes.