Unai Emery targets Champions League place after Aston Villa win at Fulham

Unai Emery has targeted qualification for next season’s Champions League after their 3-1 victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday.

Villa responded to Raul Jimenez’s opener with goals from Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and and Issa Diop’s own goal on a day where referee Darren England handed out two red cards to Joachim Andersen and Jaden Philogene.

Spanish boss Emery, whose side qualified for this year’s Champions League, wants to replicate last season’s success.

“I’m very happy for the supporters that travelled here with us,” he said.

“Now we’re going to prepare for the Champions League and we’re enjoying the Champions League because last year we performed perfectly in the Premier League being very consistent.

“We were very focused in our demands to get Europe and achieving Champions League and we are enjoying it, but today the Premier League was most important for us.

“The supporters are aware of how important the Premier League is for us to play again in Europe next year, hopefully in the Champions League.”

Villa bounced back from successive draws in the league against Ipswich and Manchester United.

Emery praised his side on refocusing their attention to Fulham.

“Today I focused with the players on those three points,” he added.

“Respecting the opponent and doing our game plan as strong as possible to get the performance we wanted and the win.”

Fulham manager Marco Silva admitted his side’s performance was not good enough after they were handed successive defeats following their loss to Manchester City last time out.

He said: “Overall it was not a good performance from us. We conceded the equaliser too quickly.

“We should have done much better. It was a bit weird, the way we conceded the goals. We were not playing at our best level.”

Published: 20/10/2024 by Radio NewsHub

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