Aston Villa boss Unai Emery spoke of his pride in his players after our thrilling 3-3 draw with Liverpool on Monday night.
Needing a win to guarantee fourth place in the Premier League table and subsequently qualify for the Champions League, it was a nightmare start for Villa as we fell behind after just two minutes.
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Having fought back to bring ourselves level, we then went 3-1 down with little time remaining, before Jhon Duran stepped off the bench and inspired our thrilling comeback to secure a share of the spoils.
While the point in itself could prove to be decisive in the battle with Tottenham for fourth, the momentum swing and lift that the result gives the players is huge too as we continue to struggle with injuries and fatigue in the latter stages of the campaign.
Unsurprisingly, Emery was delighted with his players even though we didn’t achieve our objective on Monday night, as he looked back on a brilliant season so far, while also singling out Duran for praise after his vital contribution.
“We are very proud of the season,” he told Sky Sports, as per BBC Sport. “It is not enough at the moment to get fourth. We are going to prepare for the match on Sunday against Crystal Palace. Even after we scored the two goals we had chances. We are celebrating the season here with our supporters in Villa Park.
“We are only thinking of us. We will prepare for our match on Sunday, everything is in our hands.
“Jhon Duran is a special player. We have to try and help him. He is a good guy and he needs a team behind him. He is getting our demands better. He was very clinical and today was important for him.
“Today we are celebrating with our supporters, we have to push it and keep working and be consistent. We were consistent all the season. The team was being mature and always consistent in our mind. Inch by inch we did it.”
Although Villa have inched closer to a Champions League spot, it remains to be seen if Manchester City do us a favour against Tottenham on Tuesday night and spark our celebrations early.
However, after a difficult few games and results, this was a fundamental comeback to give us some renewed confidence and momentum going into our final game of the campaign.
Should Spurs beat Man City, it will go down to the final weekend of the season, but Emery was focused on celebrating the support of the fans and the desire and effort shown by his players for now, with his focus soon switching to preparation for our last big test of the season at Palace on Sunday.