Aston Villa boss Unai Emery conceded that we’re in a ‘bad moment’ after suffering a 4-1 defeat to Chelsea in our key Premier League clash on Wednesday night.
It started well for us as Douglas Luiz broke the deadlock after just three minutes to give us the lead, and we started positively in general with more intensity, energy and tempo.
However, things began to unravel from that point onwards as Villa were unable to sustain the press and our defensive vulnerabilities were ruthlessly exposed by the visitors, who took advantage of our poor organisation and execution of a high defensive line.
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The result sees Chelsea move to within three points of us, along with Liverpool, in another major setback in our hopes of fending off our rivals and securing Champions League football.
Further, the pressure is continuing to build on Emery and Villa to come up with the answers as despite changing approach in midweek, it led to more questions than answers over his team selection and the performances put in by certain individuals.
While the Villa boss conceded that we’re in a bad run of form and we have to fix it, he maintained some level of positivity too. That said with trips to Lille and Manchester United up next in the Europa League and Premier League respectively, Villa can now ill-afford any more slip-ups across the two competitions if we are to achieve our objectives this season.
“We’re in a bad moment. We need to work to recover our structure tactically, offensively and defensively, trying to get comfortable with each one,” he told VillaTV.
“We must recover and work in the training sessions and try to get our structure strong again.
“Today we faced Chelsea. They showed their capacity, they showed their power, they showed their ability to win the match.
“We played the first half competing very well and we scored the second goal but it was refused by VAR.
“It was so tight, the match in the first half. The second half was completely different and they played a very good match, but this team is still being behind us.
“It’s because in 29 matches we are being consistent. We’re in a bad moment and we must recover because we are losing the advantage we had.
“Something we were deserving, now we are progressively losing. There’s still time to work, still time to build again our structure as strong as possible and build our confidence individually and collectively to compete in the Europa League and Premier League.
“Today, they were better than us. Congratulations to Chelsea, but in 29 matches there is still a three point difference between them and us.
“We are losing it but we must try to keep it.”
