Aston Villa boss Unai Emery said his side will keep on fighting for Champions League qualification after boosting their chances with a 1-0 win over Fulham.
Villa, who made the quarter-finals of this season’s competition, are still in the hunt to finish in the Premier League top five which will see them back among Europe’s elite next term.
Youri Tielemans’ 12th-minute header was enough for them to earn a vital three points which extended their unbeaten run at Villa Park to 20 games in all competitions.
They drew level with Nottingham Forest and Chelsea on 60 points and will now sit back and hope their rivals falter over the weekend as the top-five race heads for a climax in the coming weeks.
“If we weren’t winning today, forget it completely,” Emery admitted.
“Today, we got more or less to be close to Europe. Wow, fantastic, brilliant. The best gift we can achieve after it is the Europa League or Champions League.
“Champions League, okay, we are going to try to get it, but we are not contenders. We are not favourites to get it because there is Nottingham Forest in front of us, Manchester City, Chelsea and Newcastle.
“But we will fight for it – Europe, and hopefully we can fight for the Champions League.”
Emery highlighted his desire for perfection when he gave Ezri Konsa a rollicking for giving the ball away which gave Fulham a chance to equalise.
The England defender gave his boss some back and the Spaniard has no issue with his player’s response.
“No problem, no problem (with Konsa),” he added.
“We spoke yesterday how important it is to play focused, serious for 90 minutes. If someone is playing relaxing a little bit we are closer to losing.
We should be very demanding every day and focused to be consistent, respecting them for 90 minutes. We want to be consistent for 38 matches and for 90 minutes each match.”
Defeat for Fulham, who had a goal disallowed for handball, did little for their own European ambitions as they remained in a battle for eighth, which could bring Europa Conference League action.
Boss Marco Silva declared his side have three “finals” left in their bid to finish eighth.
Asked about the final three games, the Portuguese said: “Finals, finals, finals, finals. This afternoon was very important for both teams, they needed the three points and our aim was clear, to try to reduce Villa the points between both sides and it was not possible.
“They won the game. Now we have to look for the next three games, and the most important is the next one against Everton.
“When you lose a game, so important for us, at the end, with the goal from a set-piece, it is always very difficult for us to take it.
“We lost the game, it’s a sad moment for us. But now in eight days, we have another game to play, very important for us to get the three points.”
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