Livescore
On November 1, Unai Emery arrived in England to take charge of an Aston Villa in danger of losing their Premier League status. Villa, after the departure of Steven Gerrard, were sixteenth, only two points above the relegation zone.
Emery‘s strong start in his return to the Premier League, has given Villa the impetus that they needed, seeing them climb up to 11th place, with an 11-point cushion over Bournemouth.
The former Villarreal, Almeria, Valencia, Sevilla and Paris Saint-Germain, among others, has even dared to reveal his dream of “returning Villa to Europe”.
Emery’s ‘goal machine’
Villa‘s comeback under Emery has revolved around their new ‘goal machine’ – Ollie Watkins, who signed from Brentford in 2020.
The English striker is the most in-form striker in the Premier League as he scored again against West Ham (1-1), heading home after a great cross from Spaniard, Alex Moreno.
Only Erling Haaland and Marcus Rashford have been able to match Watkins‘ six goals in the last seven Premier League matches.
“Every day he wants more and sometimes we have to hold him back,” Emery said.
“He is very competitive. Every day at training, when we are finishing, he wants to take more exercises, he wants to do more at the end of training, individually, with the coaches.
“His mentality is very good. Sometimes we have to stop him; we have to tell him, ‘No, this is enough for today. Tomorrow, more’.
“It is good. In his mind, we have to keep this mentality because, for him and the team, that spirit is the best.
“I want to help him as well, trying to support him with my experiences with strikers and giving him the confidence to do more and more,” said the ex-Arsenal manager.
Emery‘s tinkering seem to be working: “I often want to leave the box, but Unai tells me flatly: ‘Don’t go, stay there.’ ‘ It makes me laugh, but it works,” the England international said in an interview with The Times.
“I’m happy with him. If I demand more from him it’s because I think he can still be better,” Emery said.
A century of career goals
The Villa striker has also reached 100 career goals in professional football. The Englishman has accumulated 34 goals since his arrival at Villa Park. He scored 45 goals with Brentford and 21 with Exeter earlier in his career.
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