Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was delighted with his side’s performance in our 3-0 win at Southampton on Saturday afternoon.
Goals from Ollie Watkins, Donyell Malen and John McGinn sealed all three points at St Mary’s, in a pivotal win in our ongoing pursuit of Champions League qualification with a top-five finish in the Premier League.
READ MORE: ‘Why not just go for it?’ – Villa ace emphasises belief in ability to turn PSG tie around
Although Villa dominated the first half, we ultimately struggled to show enough quality in the final third to make a breakthrough, but that patience and sustained pressure eventually told as our substitutes made a decisive impact in the latter stages.
Emery was pleased with what he saw in the win, and praised our strength in depth having improved his squad in the January transfer window, while other key individuals have now returned from injury to give us a strong starting line-up and bench on a consistent basis.
All three goals came from substitutes this weekend as we continue to effectively utilise our competition for places, and we’ll hopefully see more of that in the coming weeks as we continue to try and compete across three fronts.
“We respect them (Southampton),” Emery said, as quoted by BBC Sport. “The first half we didn’t concede transitions. We were dominating but we didn’t have many chances to score. The second half the gameplan was the same and with the fast players we can add to try and push more and more and we did. It was a fantastic 90 minutes. The subs had a very good impact.”
On Villa’s strength in depth: “We had some moments in this season without players that were injured and we didn’t have consistent 90 minute performances because we didn’t have the players. Of course we strengthen in January with four players and the consequence is it makes us more competitive.
On whether Villa’s focus will switch to PSG: “From day one to day 38 the Premier League gives us our first target. For Europe you get in via your Premier League position. We try to focus on our gameplan and to play with our skills. Of course now we focus on the match against Paris St-Germain. We will try to recover the players today. I am enjoying the way we are doing in the Champions League.”
With Nottingham Forest dropping points this weekend, this was a critical win to close the gap and put pressure on our rivals for a top-five finish, and it’s vital that Villa continue to win in the league as we try to juggle our Champions League campaign too, with the FA Cup semi-final coming soon too.
Nevertheless, this was a professional and focused display from the players which was exactly what was needed, and we eventually got our deserved reward in the form of a comprehensive victory that hopefully moves us closer to achieving one of our key objectives this season.