Fixtures
- Aston Villa Vs. Crystal Palace – Sat, Nov 23rd 2024, 15:00
Crystal Palace come to Villa Park on Saturday as Aston Villa swing back into Premier League action.
And ahead of the match, manager Unai Emery gave his pre-match press conference at Bodymoor Heath.
Here are the key lines…
On recent form…
“We have 38 matches in the Premier League. Sometimes we can have good results, sometimes not, but we have to accept it.
“When we were finishing before the break with good results, we were happy. The latest one we finished with some bade results and we weren’t happy. Sometimes we have to manage our frustrations and keep balance in how we are in our process.
“This is the reason we try to keep calm, try to rest the players after their matches with the national team. We are focusing on the match tomorrow because it’s a very, very important three points.
“We are more or less on the same points we were expecting. We are in the right way, even losing. It’s very important how we respond at Villa Park.”
On Villa’s position in the Premier League…
“We are more or less with the same possibilities like we did last year to be in the top eight, top seven, top five.
“We are now out of it, but tomorrow we have the opportunity to recover the position.”
On Crystal Palace…
“Every match is very difficult. We can analyse the table and there are a lot of teams separated by a few points. How we are finishing the match tomorrow can change a lot of things in the position we are now.
“Crystal Palace have all my respect. We can analyse them playing against us three weeks ago when they beat us here and last season they were fantastic in the last four months of the season.
“They are playing in the same idea and style, but they’ve had some injuries and (Michael) Olise is no longer in the squad. They are playing the same as last year when they were successful. They deserve more points than they have now.
“They won against us three weeks ago and my respect for them is a lot. I am positive because we are working to correct small details.
“We’re playing in Villa Park with our supporters, we’re motivated and I’m looking forward to watching our response tomorrow and how we can react.”
On the team’s approach to the game…
“We have a lot of respect for them. Respect is analysing them and trying to tactically respond to everything they are going to demand from us.
“We will try to dominate and impose our game plan with our tactical idea and the duels against the players they have. The Premier League is very difficult and we can remind ourselves of the matches we played last year against teams more or less in the bottom of the table, like Burnley and Sheffield United at home when we drew against Sheffield in the last minute and came back against Burnley in the last minute.
“We know how is our way. We know how we can feel comfortable and strong, playing with our idea and imposing and dominating the match.
“If we’re not playing focussed, if we’re not playing respecting the opponent, if we’re not playing wishing to win, it’s more difficult to get the objectives we face.”
