Emery hails ‘fantastic’ Aston Villa after Arsenal win

Unai Emery hailed a fantastic performance from Aston Villa after his side won 2-0 at title-chasing Arsenal.

Villa moved three points clear of Tottenham in the race for a top-four finish after beating Arsenal at the Emirates, with the visitors well worth their three points after an impressive display in north London.

Leon Bailey opened the scoring on 84 minutes as Villa scored twice late on to snatch the points, before Ollie Watkins struck a second on the break to seal the win.

Emery was delighted with the display from his team, as the Spaniard dented the title aspirations of his former side at the Emirates.

“Before the match we were very motivated and very excited about the possibility,” Emery reflected to Sky Sports.

“This is a very tough match and we needed to be focusing very well defensively. We wanted to be strong and have high commitment to defence as were in the first half. We tried to do 90 minutes being consistent and wait for our moment to control the game.

“The first half was more difficult but we tried to dominate with the ball. We did that less than in the second half.

“Second half we competed very well. But we are not being consistent in every match like I want. But today we were fantastic.

“We analyse deeply before each match and we played 10 days ago at Manchester City and lost 4-1. We were trying to understand a lot of things we did good but we needed one step to do something better.

“Today was an example. Firstly, it was in defence. The defence was strong. We tried to be narrow and avoid line passes then being compact with the players. More or less, that was the first idea we had.

“Then it as about trying to get time with the ball. We did, better in the second half and we imposed ourselves.”

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