Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was delighted with his players after they ground out a 1-0 win over Brighton on Wednesday night.
Villa struggled at home again in this one, as we lacked quality, intensity and rhythm throughout, and that in turn made it a difficult night as we looked to have no answers in breaking Brighton down.
Fortunately, we were eventually able to find that all-important breakthrough late on as Tyrone Mings headed Leon Bailey’s corner goal-ward, and it took a deflection on its way into the back of the net.
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It’s a fundamental win in the ongoing battle to secure Champions League qualification for next season regardless of our performance, and Emery was delighted with the outcome as we try to bounce back and recover from recent setbacks at Villa Park.
The Villa boss was particularly keen to emphasis our points tally at this stage of the campaign, and that in turn puts us in a strong position as we continue to fight to secure Champions League football for next year.
Nevertheless, he’ll know that our level of performance will need to improve if we are to keep picking up wins and do so in convincing fashion, which in turn lessens the stress and tension on the players, and hopefully this will be the confidence boost needed to get back to playing at our usual high standard in the coming weeks.
“Very important here with our supporters,” he told VillaTV. “We recovered a little bit the energy we needed, but there’s still work to do to recover more – more for us, for the supporters.
“And, of course, we are with 50 points, and today, how we achieved those three points, really is fantastic.
“Tough match, difficult match. The last two matches at home in Premier League, we lost.
“Today was very important to try to compete, to try to recover our mood individually and collectively, energy, winning of course is helping us.
“And, of course, keep going. And today, one step forward during the season, really, we needed it.”
“It was equal, the match, but I think we got more in their box, and we were creating some corners as well offensively.
“We started well, we had two chances with Morgan. More or less, the expectation I had before the match was in the plan.
“And then, we planned 90 minutes because how we could manage the match, how they were as well managing the match, it was very, very important to be resilient in 90 minutes, and as well to try to be passionate when we were not dominating.
“More or less, we dominated sometimes, they dominated sometimes as well, but how are were working as well set-pieces and how we scored through Tyrone Mings is very important – another way we are adding.
“And then, 50 points. Of course, happy today, and try to recover our energy, try to recover our good form, try to recover confidence. Today was really very important, those three points, for it.”
Villa host Newcastle United in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday evening before Leeds United visit us in the Premier League the following weekend, and so it’s undoubtedly a great opportunity to rebuild some momentum and put together another winning streak at Villa Park to get ourselves back on track.
There is still a lot of football to be played this season and we must continue to push on despite injuries derailing us as Matty Cash was forced to sit this one out due to a knee issue, and so it makes it all the more positive that we were able to find the answer and get the desired outcome on this occasion.