Unai Emery was at the podium on Friday afternoon as he gave his pre-Crystal Palace press conference.
Clearly excited at the prospect of returning to Villa Park, the head coach spoke about Saturday’s opponents, the form of Ollie Watkins and plenty more.
Here’s what he had to say…
On team news…
“Jed Steer is a long-term injury. Diego Carlos is training with us every day; some days he is resting, and we are trying to deal with him progressively in his adaptation. He is not ready for tomorrow.
“(Philippe) Coutinho is out as well. Today, (Leander) Dendoncker did not train and he is not ready for tomorrow due to personal circumstances.
“The players have trained very well this week and if we can take the experiences from this week into tomorrow we can be in a good mood.”
He added that Robin Olsen is ready to return to the squad for Palace.
On Ollie Watkins’ mentality…
“He’s 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’s 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.
“I am demanding of him as well when we don’t have the ball, defensively, trying to be together, his attitude defensively is amazing as well. That is the way.
“Defensively and offensively, we try to use his skills, adding his characteristics. He is doing it: scoring and defending with a great attitude. Overall, he is improving in everything.”
On Emi Martínez winning The Best FIFA Men's Goalkeeper Award…
“He’s very proud of what he’s achieved here with Aston Villa and his national team. It’s very good news to have one of our players [winning the award].
“I am very happy with him. He helps this team to be more competitive. We want to have him for a long time.”
On Crystal Palace…
“It’s a difficult match. They are playing and being consistent aside from the results. They don’t concede a lot of chances to the opponent.
“They are playing with a good idea. I know tomorrow we have to be consistent across the 90 minutes because it’s not a match that will be decided easily or quickly.
“The starting XI have to be ready, the players on the bench need to be ready to make an impact if we need it. Respect is the first step I want to do each match: respect for the opponent, respect for the coach, respect for the players.
“Respect for Crystal Palace is the first idea.”
