Fixtures
- Nottingham Forest Vs. Aston Villa – Sat, Dec 14th 2024, 17:30
Unai Emery takes his Aston Villa team to Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening as they swing back into Premier League action.
The game at the City Ground follows hot on the heels of a Champions League victory in midweek, and Emery was quizzed by members of the media on a number of topics at his pre-match press conference on Friday.
Here’s what he had to say…
On Ollie Watkins’ contribution…
“Ollie started this season with different circumstances because he started being with the national team. His improvements were clearly demanding to do one step ahead in his career, and one of those steps is to be with the national team.
“The pre-season was different after playing more matches and finishing later. He started a little bit with some small pain and injuries, but he was available to help the team and he did fantastically in August when we were struggling a little bit and progressively he was getting better.
“We had Jhon Durán to help and to sub him, playing with the structure we have and being successful. This is the best for us now: two important strikers. One is young with a big potential and the other is always consistently playing with us.
“Even when he’s playing not 100%, he’s always doing his work and being successful in everything we need in each match. I can’t say anything bad about him.
“He’s our striker with Jhon Durán and a good example for others. He’s been here for five years and feels something special here in Aston Villa because his commitment is so high.”
On fixture congestion…
“We are not thinking about it. We are trying to focus each match and on each day with the task we have: sometimes rest, sometimes recovery, sometimes preparing through meetings.
“We are never going to use playing a lot of matches and to play in Europe as an excuse because we want it. We have to learn, we have to try to get experiences.
“The experiences we had last year were fantastic. This year we are having very good experiences in Europe and playing matches very demanding in our way. We are feeling comfortable. To be competitive in the demands we have sometimes there isn’t consistency, but our mission is to be consistent in the future.”
On Nottingham Forest…
“Forest are always a respected team for us. They’re now a rival because they are with the same points that we have. They are doing an amazing job, an amazing season.
“Last season we played in different circumstances and lost there. I know how much difficulties we are going to face tomorrow. They have Nuno and he was their coach when we played at Villa Park.
“I can see Nottingham Forest with his face, his identity. He’s always very competitive, Nuno. As a coach, I played against him in Spain and in my experiences in the Premier League against Wolverhampton when I was in Arsenal.
“The matches we played were always difficult for us – we lost against Wolverhampton in that moment. His experience is very important, even in Europe. He played with Wolverhampton in the Europa League because they finished seventh in the league and got to a quarter-final against Sevilla.
“I am telling that because I am watching something like that in Nottingham. He’s got a very competitive team and they’re a rival that we’re trying to fight in the table for a European position.
“Tomorrow they are our opponent, our rival and a very difficult team we’re going to face. I’m excited, I’m motivated and I respect them a lot.”
