There are SEVEN English clubs ahead of Aston Villa, claims Emery

Unai Emery claims there are seven English sides ahead of Aston Villa in the race for honours this season.

The former Arsenal boss steered Villa into the Champions League courtesy of a top-four Premier League finish last season but claims his side are ‘not contenders’ to repeat the feat in this campaign – going as far as to say they are eighth on the list of contenders.

Unai Emery joined the media this afternoon ahead of tomorrow’s clash against West Ham.

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— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) August 16, 2024

He told a press conference ahead of Villa’s opening game away at West Ham on Saturday (5.30pm kick-off): “The expectations for this year are different because we are going to play in the Champions League.

“This is fantastic for us, it’s a new motivation and the best level in the football world.”

Seemingly to temper expectations among the Villa Park faithful, Emery vowed: “We are going to try and be competitive and try to do our way. The expectation for us in the Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup is the same.

“We’re not contenders to be in the top four. We’re not starting being contenders to be in the top five. There are seven teams who are contenders more than us.”

Emery named Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Manchester United, Chelsea and Newcastle as sides who should be considered more likely contenders than Villa.

“We achieved last year a top four position and we have to be demanding, intelligent, hard-working,” he added.

“Other teams are contenders more than us to be in the top four, five, six and seven, and we have to try to beat them.

“They have more capacity than us and we are trying to develop in every direction we can do.

“We are trying to reduce the distance to those teams, and we are doing it, but there are still seven teams with more capacity than us at the beginning of the season.”

Emery said maintaining the spirit which got Villa…

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Author : Alex Hoad

Publish date : 2024-08-16 16:05:48

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