Fixtures
- Aston Villa Vs. Everton – Sat, Sep 14th 2024, 17:30
Unai Emery praised players and supporters after Aston Villa fought back to beat Everton in the Premier League.
Faced with a 2-0 deficit after 26 minutes, the hosts stayed true to their principles and calmly went about netting three unanswered goals to take victory with the help of a raucous Villa Park crowd.
Manager Emery was delighted to have claimed a first home win of the campaign.
“I’m very happy because for the supporters it was amazing,” he said.
“Losing 2-0, we were playing well and we were dominating, imposing our positioning and creating chances. We didn’t score and we conceded two opportunities to them and they scored.
“The supporters were really, really understanding of how we could come back the result by being patient, playing with our structure and not changing anything.
“We were creating chances and we scored one goal in the first half but we created more chances. In the second half, we got the same structure and the supporters were helping us and supporting us.
“We came back and then conceded some good chances to them. We are being demanding in our way and today I have to be happy and try to continue the good things we did in our process as a team while avoiding some circumstances we conceded today.”
Ollie Watkins found the net either side of half-time to level the scores before Jhon Durán scored a goal worthy of winning any game, arrowing a long-range bullet past Jordan Pickford.
The impact of his two strikers was a major positive for Emery, with Watkins’ brace getting him up and running for the season.
He said: “Jhon Durán did it last year; I remember a goal against Liverpool and Ajax. His shooting is fantastic and he’s trying.
“When he’s trying, we have confidence that he can score a goal like that. He made a good impact like he did in the first matches he played, scoring goals.
“Today was also an important day for Watkins and his confidence, scoring goals. He scored two goals and he helped us to win the match.
“We have to be proud of our two strikers and to continue playing with both. Sometimes we are playing with one striker, and sometimes like today with both.
“We have to use our players within our structure, trying to get better and use their good moments.”
