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Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has issued a warning to his players.
Unai Emery has hammered home his desire to finish strongly in the Premier League above all else despite Aston Villa progressing deep in the FA Cup and Champions League.
The Villans haven’t quite been at the races in the league this campaign, often struggling away from home and especially faltering directly after European outings. Before the 1-0 victory at Brentford on Saturday, Villa had won just one of their last Premier League matches on the road and they’d kept just three clean sheets in their previous 28 games across all competitions.
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Ollie Watkins’ second-half goal and inspired performances from the likes of Axel Disasi, Tyrone Mings, Youri Tielemans and Robin Olsen helped Emery’s men over the line for an important win. The gap to the top five - likely to be enough for Champions League qualification this term - is now just two points.
That could change soon, though, as Villa have played one or two games more than those in and around them in the standings. The Villans don’t play again in the league until April, giving other European contenders the chance to gain ground or extend their advantages. Fourth-placed Chelsea, with a game in hand, are probably the main team Villa must hunt down with Manchester City likely to improve.
With so much at stake for the remainder of the season and every fixture remaining effectively a cup final as a result, Emery has made a crystal clear demand to his players. The head coach wants every member of his squad to everything on the line in every game, not leaving anything to chance.
“Yes, of course today was very important because to beat them is more or less to beat our opponent (for Europe),” Emery told BirminghamWorld.
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“Two years ago, we were competing with them to get Europe. Last year as well, this year as well. Of course, there are other teams really playing fantastic, performing fantastic.
“We have to be really demanding, extremely demanding for the rest of the season. Today winning of course is something we can add as a confidence, we can add to our belief in our next match we’re going to play and we can focus now on Brugge on Wednesday.
“Then of course we are going to rest more than other teams, but we will work like a small precision with some players and try to be ready because we are now really hungry to play the last two months and a half. We lost something in our way this year and have to try to recover, especially in the Premier League.”
Six-pointers galore
Many of Villa’s remaining Premier League fixtures are against direct rivals for European qualification, with just three of the nine upcoming league opponents currently outside the top half.
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After the Champions League last 16 second leg against Club Brugge on Wednesday, Villa have an 18-day break before their next match, away at Preston North End in the FA Cup quarter-finals. The next Premier League outing isn’t until Wednesday, April 2, meaning Emery and his men finally have time to recover physically and mentally.
That first league game back is away at Brighton & Hove Albion, who are currently one point and one place above Villa with a game in hand. Following that, the Villans take on Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, Man City, Fulham and AFC Bournemouth almost consecutively with only the trip to relegation-bound Southampton offering any reprieve.
Every single one of these meetings - bar the Southampton one, of course - are ultimately six-pointers and Villa can’t afford to slip up or else European qualification will be tricky, let alone Champions League football for another season.
In other news, Emery has provided updates on the injured Emiliano Martinez and Marco Asensio.