Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was delighted as we continued our strong home form with a 2-1 win over Tottenham on Saturday.
After a positive start, Jacob Ramsey broke the deadlock as Villa dominated the opening 45 minutes before Spurs improved after the break and began to threaten.
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However, Douglas Luiz’s free-kick was not only an excellent goal in its own right, but it came at a crucial time in the clash as we were under pressure at that point, and so it swung the momentum back in our favour.
Despite a late Harry Kane penalty, Villa were able to hold out for all three points in a major boost following consecutive defeats.
Victory over Spurs made it six consecutive wins at Villa Park, and in turn it has kept our hopes of qualifying for Europe next season alive heading into the final two fixtures of the Premier League campaign.
Emery was keen to praise all concerned, including the supporters, and he has made it clear what he hopes to happen in the next fortnight as we have two finals left to play which will determine where we finish in the standings.
“We can be happy and excited about our position. We have to play Liverpool away and here against Brighton, and we will try and and get a chance to play in Europe,” he said, as per BBC Sport. “Overall, I am so, so proud of the work and connection here with our supporters. We’ve played here the last six matches and won.
“But we have to be very demanding and the first half we played very well. The second half we were maybe a little bit tired.
“For me, it wasn’t a penalty because I think the goalkeeper touched the ball.
“If we can play here against Brighton [on the final day of the season] with the opportunity of getting into Europe, it is my dream.”
The Villa boss went on to assess the performance as a whole against Spurs, and he was particularly pleased with the first-half display as we not only limited the visitors to very little as they registered no attempts on goal, but we showed quality to create openings ourselves.
Perhaps the only criticism at half-time was that we didn’t extend our lead and make it more comfortable, but despite Emery conceding that tiredness might have been a factor in the second half as Spurs enjoyed a period of pressure, we held out and secured another important win.
As always, the Spanish tactician was both realistic and ambitious in his thoughts about our challenge ahead, as ultimately it does remain a difficult task to qualify for Europe given how things stand and how tough our remaining two games are away at Liverpool and at home against Brighton.
Nevertheless, we’ve continued to show real progression and quality since he took charge, and there should be no reason why we don’t go into those two encounters full of confidence and belief that we can achieve our ultimate objective this season.
“The result is a very good result,” he added. “It’s still very difficult to get a European position but we can be excited and motivated.
“The first half was very good. We controlled the game very well and tried to get into the attacking third. We got chances. We scored one goal and had another three or four chances to score. They didn’t really get out into our box. We were getting tired in the second half. We played a very good second half, not like the first, but very good. That’s what we want to create and build here with the club.
“We are taking some risks but the players are feeling comfortable. I want to achieve the excellence we need defensively. It’s not always keeping it. We will work to try to be it. Now the team is doing very well. We have to be very focused to try to improve and be close to excellence.
“It will still be very difficult. Today was very important to keep the chance as much as we can to get it. It is not in our hands. But we are finishing today with the same points as Tottenham. We will try to be motivated to play as much with that possibility of being there.”
