Unai Emery says Aston Villa are hungry to prove themselves in the final two months of the season after they were handed a boost in their European qualification push with a 1-0 Premier League win at Brentford.
Ollie Watkins’ 49th-minute strike was the only goal of the match as Villa made it three victories on the spin after beating Club Brugge 3-1 in the Champions League last 16 on Tuesday and knocking Cardiff out of the FA Cup last weekend.
The England international, who swapped Brentford for Villa in 2020, silenced the boos around the Gtech Community Stadium to take his league tally for the season to 13.
Villa, in seventh, now sit two points off fourth-place Manchester City.
“We have to be extremely demanding for the rest of the season, we can add confidence, belief in the way we want to play,” Emery said.
“We will work with the players and try to be ready because we are hungry to play the last two-and-a-half months because we lost something in our way this year and want try to recover, especially in the Premier League.
“We tried to get confidence and belief in our way, it was very important, we spoke in our meetings and how competing here and wishing to win in everything we did. Today we needed to adapt to every demand they pushed us with.”
Emery’s side, who had two goals chalked off in their 4-1 loss at Crystal Palace last month, were denied by VAR again in west London with Watkins being deemed to have ran too early in the build-up to Morgan Rogers’ effort.
Robin Olsen played ahead of the injured Emiliano Martinez in goal, while January signing Marco Asensio was also absent in the capital
“Ollie is always working and taking a big responsibility with his tasks,” Emery added on scorer Watkins’ performance.
“When he’s scoring it’s fantastic and when he’s not he’s helping. He had good chances but his attitude is always fantastic, he worked like we needed and we won.
“They were not feeling good (Martinez and Asensio). They had sore muscle pain, it’s not important because we tested them, they were not available today.
“More or less we decided to avoid risk and hopefully they are available for Wednesday (Club Brugge).”
Brentford had a day to forget with Keane Lewis-Potter’s shot from range hitting the post being their best chance of the evening.
Thomas Frank felt hard done by that his side were not awarded a penalty when Axel Disasi’s push on Kevin Schade was waved away by referee Jarred Gillett.
“I think Disasi’s clearly taken him out,” Frank said. “I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed to do that.”
David Moyes believes James Tarkowski was lucky to avoid a red card for his reckless challenge on Alexis Mac Allister as Everton were beaten 1-0 by Liverpool on a controversial night at Anfield.Diogo Jota’s 57th-minute goal, which Moyes claimed should have been ruled out for offside, gave Liverpool a 100th derby win and moved them a step closer to the Premier League title, but both sides were...
Jack Grealish dedicated his goal to his late brother after scoring in Manchester City’s 2-0 win over relegation-threatened Leicester on Wednesday.The England international hit his first Premier League goal for 16 months, on his first start in the competition since last December, as City moved back into fourth with a comfortable success at the Etihad Stadium.It came on the 25th anniversary of...
David Moyes bemoaned an “offside” goal that gave Liverpool a 1-0 win over Everton – but admitted James Tarkowski was lucky to avoid an early red card on a controversial night at Anfield.Diogo Jota’s 57th-minute goal gave Liverpool a 100th derby win and moved them a step closer to the Premier League title, but both sides were left unhappy with decisions from referee Sam Barr...
Eddie Howe hailed Sandro Tonali’s shooting power after seeing him cap a fine display with a stunning winner to edge Newcastle into the race for Champions League qualification.The 24-year-old Italy international brought an incident-packed encounter to a fitting conclusion with a 74th-minute piledriver which beat goalkeeper Mark Flekken from an improbable angle to hand the Magpies a precious 2...
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery believes Marcus Rashford is “progressively getting better” in all aspects of his game following his first Premier League goal for the club.The on-loan Manchester United forward set Villa on course for a comprehensive 3-0 win over fellow European hopefuls Brighton with a 51st-minute finish at the Amex Stadium.Rashford’s milestone strike came three days ...
Southampton boss Ivan Juric vowed to keep fighting as relegation moved sharply into focus after Crystal Palace denied them only a third Premier League win of the season.Substitute Matheus Franca’s stoppage-time header, to secure a 1-1 draw for the Eagles, means Saints will be down at the weekend if they lose at Tottenham and Wolves beat Ipswich.If relegation is confirmed on Sunday, Southampt...
Derby boss John Eustace insists his side are reaping the rewards for the hard work they have put in since he was appointed as manager after the Rams earned a 2-0 win over Preston to climb out of the Sky Bet Championship relegation zone.Derby came out firing after a lacklustre opening period and Craig Forsyth coolly slotted the hosts in front with his fourth goal of the season.The Rams doubled thei...
Notts County manager Stuart Maynard hailed a “massive” three points as his side comfortably saw off MK Dons at Meadow Lane to maintain their promotion challenge.Two stunning strikes from David McGoldrick and Will Jarvis from the edge of the box, either side of Nick Tsaroulla’s close-range effort, earned County a convincing 3-0 win.“I think every three points is massive now,...
Kieran McKenna was not getting too giddy dreaming of a miracle escape from relegation after Ipswich beat Bournemouth 2-1 to pick up their first Premier League win of 2025.Goals from Nathan Broadhead and top-scorer Liam Delap did the damage as Ipswich put a further dent in Bournemouth’s hopes of qualifying for Europe.McKenna, whose side are still nine points adrift of 17th-placed Wolves who t...
Liverpool re-established their 12-point lead at the top of the Premier League with Diogo Jota’s strike against Everton settling a second controversial Merseyside derby of the season.Jota’s first league goal since mid-January was potentially one of his most important of the campaign as the 1-0 victory kept second-placed Arsenal at more than arm’s length.It also ended Everton manag...
- 1 Hot WAG flaunts 'astonishing' washboard abs in bikini
- 2 Danny Rohl hails Sheffield Wednesday resilience in draw at Cardiff
- 3 Alfie May double sends Birmingham step closer to Championship
- 4 Marcus Rashford scores first Premier League goal for Villa in win at Brighton
- 5 Ryan Lowe and Conor Hourihane felt team deserved more as Wigan and Barnsley draw
- 6 Mat Sadler hails Taylor Allen set-piece skills after Walsall snatch draw
- 7 Chris Davies says Alfie May’s goal drought never concerned him
- 8 Football fan 'eats' raw pig's head in ultimate insult
- 9 Marcus Rashford still looking to improve after firing Villa into FA Cup semis
- 10 Chelsea prepare €70m for Barcelona defender