Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has issued a warning to his players that anything short of full focus will not be tolerated in a critical three-game stretch to end our season.
After disappointment over falling short in the Champions League and particularly the FA Cup, Villa will look to salvage a crucial objective from the campaign by finishing in the top five in the Premier League, and thus returning to Europe’s top table next year.
READ MORE: How Villa could line up vs Bournemouth: Injury blow, four potential key changes
With ground to make up on our rivals, we’ll have to hope for favours elsewhere, but there is no more room for error in our remaining three outings as three wins on the bounce are likely needed to have a realistic chance of getting to where we want to be.
It could be argued that Emery’s demeanour has slightly changed since our defeat at Wembley in the semi-finals in the FA Cup, from his furious outburst aimed at Ezri Konsa during our win over Fulham last weekend to his unwavering and sharp focus on Bournemouth in his pre-match press conference on Friday, the Villa boss both looks and sounds like a man on a mission.
“I want to play tomorrow, I want to play next week, I want to play two weeks after,” Emery said, as per BirminghamLive. “I want to continue playing. I don’t want holidays! I want to play.
“Why? Because now we are in our best moment, and we have to try to reduce the distance between us and the opponents who are above us.
“During the season, sometimes I was missing a lot of things. Now, we have players, work, focus, and a good mentality – a very good mentality.
“They are working, every day, fantastically. The message we are sending in the dressing room is a strong message: we have to get Europe again, and we have to play the last matches to finish the season as best as possible.
“Now is not the time to think about the summer. It is only about playing matches, and then, when we finish the season, we will prepare for the next one.”
He added: “Of course, if I am watching one of them not being focused, I am going to take him out [of contention to play].”
Meanwhile, with Youri Tielemans sustaining an injury this past week, the Belgian midfielder won’t be available to face Bournemouth, while reports have suggested that he faces a race against time to be able to feature again at all this season.
That in turn leaves a glaring void in our midfield given the influence and impact that he has had this year, with all 52 of his appearances coming as a starter as he’s shown tenacity and work ethic off the ball and technical quality and creative class on it.
Amadou Onana is arguably best placed to step in this weekend to give us more defensive solidity and cover on the road against a dangerous side in Bournemouth, but Emery has reiterated that with Ross Barkley now recovered from injury, he has a major role to play for us if he can stay fit and rediscover his best form.
“It is the moment for Barkley,” he added, as per the Express and Star. “It is the moment for Amadou Onana, for Kamara. It is the moment for Lamare Bogarde.
“When (Barkley) was injured in January, February, March, more or less three months, of course we were missing him.
“We were missing the minutes he was adding us, playing, performing and consistency. And now again is the moment for him.”
While we’ll need everyone to step up in these final weeks and replicating what Tielemans does so effectively and brilliantly in that role is impossible, Barkley is the most similar and most capable of doing that job to a high enough level to help us maintain our way of playing, rhythm and control.
He’s shown earlier in the season that he can add that touch of technical quality in the midfield pivot and build play to create sustained pressure, and we’ll need to see all of that whenever he’s involved if we are to impose ourselves and get the desired outcome in these three games.
