Unai Emery felt Aston Villa’s win against Tottenham Hotspur on New Year’s Day was fully deserved.
The head coach was full of praise for his side’s all-round performance after they restricted Spurs’ attacking talents before taking their chances in the second half.
Emery was left to toast a second Premier League away win of the season as they began 2023 on a positive note.
“We are so happy because we deserved to win,” he said.
“We played with the tactical discipline that we were speaking about in the days before the match.
“We did really good work and scored two goals. We got a clean sheet as well and Robin Olsen was fantastic.
“With our supporters [behind us], we can have days like today. It’s perfect.”
Goals from Emiliano Buendía and Douglas Luiz secured the three points in north London as Villa secured a statement win.
Emery now wants to see his players build on this result as they look to challenge in the higher reaches of the league.
He said: “If you want to win against teams in the top six like Tottenham and playing in big stadiums, you know you have to defend with discipline and be clinical when you have chances to score.
“We didn’t do that against Liverpool. I was happy with the performance against Liverpool but we were disappointed with the result.
“Today, we can add this victory remembering that we are in the right way to build this team like I want.”
