Unai Emery declared himself “very, very happy” with Aston Villa’s performance and the result after they could only draw 2-2 at Burnley. Villa again missed the chance to virtually guarantee a top-five finish and Champions League qualification with a slipshod display at Turf Moor.
Trailing to Jaidon Anthony’s early goal, the visitors fought back to lead through Ross Barkley and Ollie Watkins but then gifted their hosts, who had lost their previous five Premier League matches, an equaliser through Zian Flemming. Despite looking agitated on the touchline during the match and in the post-match press conference, Emery struck a positive tone, choosing to focus on the bigger picture with his team sitting fifth in the table with two matches to play.
“It is being difficult to be fifth in the league on the day 36,” he said. “It is being very difficult to be in the top five with Liverpool, who are on the same points. Bournemouth and Brighton are fighter teams and are behind and are fantastic.
“You were making questions four months ago about us being contenders for the title when we were two or three points behind Arsenal and Manchester City. I told you that the day 34 you can make questions about it, but you are not making questions about it.
“I will respond myself. It is fantastic to be where we are. To be in the top five in the Premier League, it is fantastic. The point is not enough, but I know the difficulty to achieve three points here for us and for other teams.
“How the players showed their wishes to win, I am so, so proud of them and overall.
“A win at home over Liverpool on Friday will be enough to secure a top-five finish but they are now only four points clear of Bournemouth.”
Emery admitted some players were feeling “tired” and said it had been hard for them to raise their levels after the euphoria of Thursday’s Europa League semi-final win over Nottingham Forest. Villa are level on points with Liverpool, who they host on Friday night five days before the Europa League final against Freiburg in Istanbul. Both teams go into the match knowing a win will be enough to secure a top-five finish.
Emery revealed Amadou Onana could return from a calf problem before the end of the season. The midfielder was expected to miss between two to three weeks with the injury sustained in last month’s first leg defeat at Forest.
“Hopefully but I don’t know,” said Emery. “He is still being injured. Firstly, the doctor told us it is more or less three weeks. It is maybe the final of the Europa League or the final against Liverpool on Friday.
“We are going to be working with Lindelof in this position, we are working hard with Bogarde in this position. We do not have Kamara, who of course is very important for us. But I am positive with the players we have. In case someone is not available, we will find solutions, like we did always.”
