Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was unsurprisingly delighted with his side’s performance in our 4-0 win over Ajax on Thursday night.
After a goalless draw in the first leg of our round-of-16 Europa Conference League tie in Amsterdam last week, Villa were looking to not only secure a safe passage to the quarter-finals of the competition, but also to produce a response after our disappointing defeat to Tottenham last weekend.
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It proved to be the perfect reaction as after Ollie Watkins grabbed the all-important first goal to break the deadlock and give us a lead heading into half-time, goals from Leon Bailey, Jhon Duran and Moussa Diaby ensured that it was a confidence-boosting victory to get us back on track.
While we now await the draw on Friday to determine who we will face next, Emery was pleased with the response from his players and the result, and he’ll no doubt be hoping that we can take that momentum into our clash with West Ham Utd on Sunday.
“We’re quarter-finalists and I’m very happy because we enjoyed it here with our supporters in Villa Park,” Emery told VillaTV. “We were competitive in the first leg there, we got a draw and that was very important for the second leg. We were speaking after our analysis of the match we played there that we needed more, and we did it.
“We did a very good match, playing tactically very seriously and being organised and disciplined. We tried to impose our quality with the players and progressively we got better.
“We scored the second goal and were dominating the match. We had more chances than them and then the red card made it more difficult for them. We created more chances and scored four goals.
“Overall I’m very happy because we’ve focused very well on these two matches against Ajax, respecting them and imposing ourselves like we did.
“I always want to enjoy it here in Villa Park and we are feeling strong and comfortable here with our supporters. We need their support and we need to transmit them our positive energy, and today we did it.
“Now we have to be excited and motivated, every supporter, in this competition, like the players, coaches and staff.”
Our defeat to Tottenham on Sunday was a bitter blow and a chastening experience after so many positives this season, but it was imperative that we bounced back in midweek to put that behind us and avoid allowing it to impact the rest of our campaign.
This may well prove to be a significant result and performance, but that will only be the case if we can build on it now and follow it up with a similarly positive display against West Ham this weekend.
While our hopes of lifting European silverware this season are still alive, focus now switches back to trying to secure a top-four finish in the Premier League, and it certainly won’t be easy getting the three points against the Hammers after their impressive midweek European win too.
For more from the Villa boss, watch his post-match TNT Sports interview in the video below:
