26 November 2023 , 18:31
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Unai Emery leapfrogged Tottenham into the top four - and then claimed there are seven better teams than Aston Villa.
England striker Ollie Watkins grabbed the winner to fire Aston Villa to their 22nd win in this calendar which is their best run since 1980. It has raised hopes of getting into the Champions League places next season but Emery named the seven teams he thinks are bigger contenders than Villa.
Villa boss Emery said: “There are seven teams who are more contenders than us to be in the top seven positions. While we are there we will try to enjoy it and try to keep it. Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea and Newcastle.
“We will enjoy the position and of course they are aware about where we are. We will continue being demanding and being focused on each match and, of course, in 38 matches there are still a lot of things to happen.
“We have to be happy, we have to enjoy and be as well demanding.” Emery also insisted he would not sell Douglas Luiz in January despite the Villa midfielder being a big money target for Arsenal.
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“He is a very important player but is also very happy here so of course we want to keep him,” said Emery. It was a third straight defeat for Ange Postecoglou as his injury-hit side suffered another blow with Rodrigo Bentancur going off with an ankle injury.
Unai Emery has insisted Douglas Luiz will not be sold in January, despite strong interest from Arsenal (AP)The Spurs boss said: “I thought today we play that game again and we keep playing in that manner when we do get everyone back, we're going to be a pretty good football side as we've already shown.
“I mean some of the goals we could have scored would have ended up being show reels for us in the way we want to play our football, so for me the positives definitely outweigh the negative of the result.
“We have got eight (injuries), Bentancur nine, we had a couple of suspensions today and we've only got a squad of 25. You do the sums and that's what we've got. But I've got no doubt when we come out the other side, we'll be a very good football team.”