Unai Emery confessed a feeling of pride when reflecting on Aston Villa’s recent form, after Premier League leaders Arsenal ended their 11-match winning run.
The Villans fell to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Mikel Arteta’s men at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday evening, having equalled a club-record 11 successive wins at Chelsea on Saturday.
Villa boss Emery dissected the clash in North London after a competitive, goalless first half, while looking back on his side’s run with a sense of gratification.
“So, so proud of everything we are doing,” he said.
“So, so proud with the players, how we achieved, until now, 39 points, and how we are being ambitious and as well realistic.
“We are realising every match we are playing, how we can exploit our potential and how we can get and set our target each match.
“Today we lost. We did fantastic (in the) first half. The second half, we conceded one goal, we got injured with Amadou Onana and of course in the middle we had not the structure we needed to keep strongly in the middle.
“But we competed fantastic, and we conceded the second goal and then (it) was more difficult. We didn’t give up.
“We were trying to score a goal. We did one goal, one or two chances to score another one, and the debuts of some players like Jamal (Jimoh-Aloba) and George (Hemmings) is really fantastic as well.”
Despite ending the calendar year with disappointment, Emery offered further reflection on his side’s season so far, and how keen he is for his players to demonstrate their winning mentality when returning to action at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday (ko 5.30pm).
“Keep going,” he added. “We are third in the league, the day 19.
“We are going to play on Saturday, keep the same mentality we have, and until now, very proud (of) everything we are doing with our supporters, they were here with us.
“We tried today to compete, to be consistent against the better team in the league. After the first half, we played fantastic. The second half, we lost something, and they used those moments to beat us.
“The league is the most difficult league in the world and there are 17 contenders at the beginning of the season to be in the top seven, and then we are trying always to beat some of them.
“Until now, we are doing (that), but the challenge we have is clear: try to keep the same consistency, the same demands we have, being ambitious with our supporters, each match, try to, everybody, help and support everything we are doing, and of course try to support the players and give the players with the energy we have and the motivation we have, to do a good season.”
Watch the manager's full post-match interview via VillaTV, by clicking below...