Aston Villa boss Unai Emery praised his players after our enthralling 3-2 win over West Ham United on Sunday.
Villa fell behind twice in the first half as goals from Mateus Fernandes and Jarrod Bowen, the first of which was scored just 29 seconds into the game, gave the hosts the advantage in a frustrating encounter from our perspective due to the nature of the goals conceded.
However, after an own goal drew us level the first time round, it was Morgan Rogers who levelled things just minutes into the second half before he produced a sensational strike in the 79th minute to secure all three points.
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That’s now nine consecutive wins for Villa across all competitions as our brilliant run of form continues, and this winning culture and habit that we’re developing is certainly reflected in our performances and manner of victory as we keep finding a way to get the job done.
It’s been a gruelling run of fixtures too which has tested the mental and physical fortitude of the players, and so Emery was keen to praise them for their efforts to go again after winning in Europe in midweek, and he’ll hope that he can get a similar reaction from them when we face Manchester United next Sunday.
“The players are organised and disciplined in our structure tactically,” he is quoted as saying after the game, by BBC Sport. “They must show their quality in our game plan and today they showed it.
On the title race:Â “We are not feeling under pressure. we are feeling ambitious and we try to challenge in Europe and in the Premier League. Enjoy each match, try to prepare, then rest. The players must feel comfortable doing it. This is the process we are doing. Now it is Manchester United [next Sunday].”
“We needed to keep calm and be consistent and demanding in our game plan. We did everything.
On Morgan Rogers’ second goal:Â “I believe in their qualities and their confidence so of course shoot.
“I like how the players are responding, how they are getting the challenges we are sending in the dressing room but now everything is done and we go again.”
The squad will no doubt welcome this mini ‘break’ that we have now with a week to rest, recover and regroup ahead of the United clash, and while ongoing talk of being title contenders seems premature given there is still such a long way to go in the season, if we keep winning, then who knows what we can achieve this year.
Perhaps more realistically, we continue to keep a distance between ourselves and the chasing pack in the race for Champions League qualification, and so we’ve certainly put ourselves in a strong position to achieve that objective heading towards the halfway point in the campaign.
