Fixtures
- Aston Villa Vs. Arsenal – Sat, Aug 24th 2024, 17:30
Unai Emery felt Aston Villa competed well against Arsenal but lacked the clinical edge needed to overcome the title challengers.
Both sides had a great opportunity to open the scoring in a goalless first half before the hosts appeared to be in the ascendency after the break.
Amadou Onana hit the crossbar and Ollie Watkins saw his follow-up saved, with Arsenal making the most of their reprieve via goals from Leandro Trossard and Thomas Partey.
“We have to accept the result,” Emery said.
“We competed very well against a team that is more mature than us, more experienced than us and their process is more advanced than ours – two or three years building the team with a strong structure tactically.
“We competed very well and we had three unbelievable chances to score and we didn’t do it. I have to be proud of our work. I think this is the way we can progress and develop the tactical structure with the players.
“We are trying to get the performance close to teams like Arsenal here, and this is the process we have to try to keep.”
There were strong performances across the park as Villa played out their first home game of the season.
Morgan Rogers was one player who caught the eye, but Emery wants his squad to keep improving.
He said: “One example is Morgan Rogers but we need other players progressing better.
“We created two very good chances to score and we didn’t score. It’s important to create and have it.
“Ollie Watkins didn’t score, but with chances like that, we will be close to winning the next matches.”
