Match Reaction: Unai Emery Breaks Down Everton Win
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery expressed his delight after his team secured a crucial 1-0 victory away at Everton, thanks to a second-half strike from Ollie Watkins. The win, which lifted Villa to seventh in the Premier League, marked a significant turnaround for a side that had endured five consecutive away losses in the league.
The result not only ended Villa’s dismal run on the road but also granted them their first clean sheet of the Premier League season, a feat Emery was particularly keen to highlight.
Breaking the Spell
Emery, who has been vocal about Villa’s struggles away from home, emphasised the psychological boost the result will bring to his team.
“Fantastic. Really, really happy,” he said, of the 1-0 win. “We have broken the bad spell we had, the last matches we played away.”
Emery identified the clash with Everton as a pivotal moment in Villa’s season:
“Of course, today, in my mind, was a very important match to try to break it and get confidence. To win away always is difficult, here is difficult.”
Villa controlled large parts of the game, and perhaps should have been ahead in first-half, before Watkins delivered the decisive moment after the break.
A Long-Awaited Clean Sheet
Villa’s defensive display was a standout aspect of the performance, with Emery praising his players for achieving an important milestone.
“The clean sheet was very important, and was in our mind as well, a very strong objective today,” Emery explained.
Villa’s defense has come under scrutiny this season, and Emery acknowledged the challenges they’ve faced in keeping opposition teams at bay on their travels.
“We didn’t get [a clean sheet before], for different circumstances, but today I think, of course, through how we can manage the match, how we can offensively keep the ball possession as long as possible, we are starting to defend. But then, when we are not keeping the ball possession and the positioning offensively, we had to defend like we did.”
Villa’s ability to limit Everton’s opportunities, particularly in the second half, was a testament to their improved organisation.
“More or less, the second half after our goal, they were pushing a little bit, crosses, but we defended well, and we didn’t concede a lot [of chances].”
Looking Ahead
Despite their poor run away from home in the league, there was an expectation that they should be beating a struggling Everton team, if they have designs on returning to the Champions League next season. The win and clean sheet though provides Villa with a much-needed platform for their upcoming away trip to Arsenal at the weekend, where they can go with renewed confidence.
Having dropped cheap points in recent months, Villa need to now win games they are underdogs in, to get them back in the mix at the top of the Premier League. A repeat of last year’s win at the Emirates would be a massive step in the right direction.
UTV
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