Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was proud of his players after seeing them battle to a 1-0 win over Brentford on Saturday evening.
Ollie Watkins struck in the 49th minute to secure all three points, with Villa keeping a crucial clean sheet having struggled defensively all season.
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Further, it ends a trend of poor results after our midweek Champions League exploits, as the players dug deep and picked up a fundamental win in our bid to climb the Premier League standings in the latter stages of the campaign.
Villa have ground to make up while we also look to advance in Europe and the FA Cup, and while our focus will quickly switch to the second leg of our round-of-16 tie with Club Brugge next week, this was a vital victory that left Emery delighted.
“I’m very proud of the players,” Emery said, as per VillaTV. “We planned this match as a key [game] because we’re not going to play in the Premier League for the next 25 days.
“We’re going to play in the Champions League and then it’s the break. We’re coming back with the FA Cup and then Brighton is our next match in the Premier League to try to feel comfortable, confident and believing in our way.
“It was very important to compete today like we did in Bruges and try to get those three points, knowing the difficulties we were facing.
“We did a fantastic job in the first half. We dominated, created chances and played wishing to win. We didn’t concede a lot to them and in the second half we scored one goal and then a second goal, but VAR refused it.
“After it, they were progressively dominating more and pushing us to defend in a low block, and we needed the goalkeeper. Robin Olsen was fantastic today and the back four did a great job.
“We had some transitions as well, like with Ollie Watkins, to score the second goal, but how we competed today, how we imposed our game plan and how we won the duels was like how we planned before.
“It was very important to win through a clean sheet and feel confidence with the goalkeeper and the block defensively.
“The supporters of Aston Villa were helping us and I’m thankful for their support and how they are enjoying the way.
“They are competing with us as well to get good emotions and to feel together.”
Emery was certainly right to praise his defence and Olsen, as they were critical in setting a solid foundation on which we could go on and win the game.
It can’t have been easy for the Swedish stalwart to come in and replace Emiliano Martinez with minimal playing time prior to this weekend, but he filled the void as best as possible and made some key interventions.
Further, he was helped significantly by a brilliant display from the back-four in front of him, and so after months of defensive woes and criticism, Villa picked a timely moment to produce a robust rearguard effort, and this could yet prove to be a decisive result in our pursuit of a return to the Champions League next year.
With key individuals coming back from injury, it’s hoped that we’re able to stay fresh and continue to perform at such a high level at both ends of the pitch on a more consistent basis, and that starts with finishing the job against Club Brugge ahead of the international break.
