Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was pleased with his side’s 1-0 win over Fulham, and praised Youri Tielemans for his ongoing influence this season.
Villa bounced back from disappointment in recent weeks to secure a fundamental victory this weekend in our hopes of qualifying for the Champions League, with Youri Tielemans’ first-half header sealing the three points.
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It was a pivotal result as we simply can’t afford to drop anymore points between now and the end of the campaign, as we’ve closed the gap on our rivals for the time being and applied pressure ahead of their fixtures this weekend.
Emery was pleased with the performance and our response at home, but the message from the Villa boss and all concerned will be clear in the coming weeks, and that’s to keep going and stay focused on the task in hand as we must continue to win our remaining games.
“It was very important to win today, to feel comfortable & strong at home. Keep going,” he told TNT Sports.
On Youri Tielemans, Emery added: “He’s doing fantastic work. Very professional, commitment to the club. The mentality he has, I appreciate in the highest level we can achieve.”
The Belgian midfielder has not only been a mainstay in the side all season having made 52 appearances thus far, all coming as a starter, but the influence he has on the team with his play on and off the ball, has been a pivotal reason behind our ongoing progress and success.
In turn, he deserves all the praise that comes his way, and it’s hoped that he still has plenty left in the tank to lead our charge in the final weeks of the season.
As per his comments below, Emery went on to make an important point about stretching the gap on those chasing us and subsequently all-but sealing some form of European football next year, and so while that should be celebrated as another important achievement for the third year running under his stewardship, it’s clear that we want more, and that’s returning to Europe’s top table next season.
“It’s a fantastic victory,” he later said, speaking to VillaTV. “Through the Premier League we are setting our objective because through it we can play in Europe again.
“Fulham are nine points behind us and this victory against this opponent was very important. We did it. We performed fantastically.
“Even when we were winning 1-0, we had chances but didn’t score another. We could have had some problems defensively, but we defended well, we were focused in the 90 minutes and we played a good match. We deserved to win and maybe to score one more. I’m very happy because to be in Europe is the objective and our dream is to repeat playing in the Champions League.
“We’re not favourites because other teams are in front of us, but we can continue to dream for it, playing strongly to take again the Champions League. The real objective is for us to be in Europe and after today, we are close to being in there.”
Meanwhile, a key factor in securing three points on Saturday was our ability to keep a clean sheet, and although we risked causing our own downfall at times with sloppy play as Fulham grew into the game in the second half and began to threaten more consistently, Emery was pleased that the defence was able to hold out and produce a shut-out to lay the foundation for a critical win.
