Emery backs Potter to show Hammers’ season round

Graham Potter’s arrival as head coach at West Ham has acquired an emphatic thumbs-up from Aston Villa counterpart Unai Emery.

Potter was appointed by the Hammers on a two-and-a-half-year contract this morning along with his first recreation in cost coming tomorrow evening when West Ham go to Villa within the third spherical of the FA Cup.

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His arrival provides a component of intrigue to an all-Premier League tie that pits eighth-placed Villa in opposition to a West Ham facet sitting in 14th.

Emery expects former Brighton and Chelsea boss Potter to enhance the London membership’s fortunes.

He stated: “West Ham have excellent gamers, it’s a good membership as properly. It’s not excellent news when they’re altering one coach however after all now there’s the chance for him and we’re going to respect West Ham and we’re going to respect Graham Potter as a result of he was profitable when he was teaching earlier than right here in England. I feel he’s going to do good work.”

FA Cup woe for Emery

Villa have loved enormous success beneath Emery however the FA Cup has offered few highlights.

In his first season in cost, his workforce had been shocked by lower-league Stevenage whereas, final 12 months, they misplaced in a fourth-round replay at residence to Chelsea.

Requested if he discovered that irritating, the Spaniard added: “It relies upon, as a result of the circumstances had been in that second. We didn’t get one thing within the FA Cup, but it surely was a course of. Probably not considering it was a frustration. When you’re shedding, it’s a frustration, however after all, it’s soccer.

“We’re beginning this 12 months with the circumstances we’ve got now, and tomorrow the thought is to attempt to be aggressive and attempt to begin performing higher than the final two years, making an attempt to get by way of this competitors, one choice for a trophy and one choice for Europe.”

Villa will likely be with out captain John McGinn tomorrow evening because the Scotland worldwide remains to be scuffling with the hamstring damage he sustained in opposition to Leicester on the weekend.