Unai Emery hailed the importance of Aston Villa’s victory against Crystal Palace at Villa Park on Saturday.
The Villans put their recent home form behind them to triumph against the Eagles courtesy of Joachim Andersen’s own goal.
Three points kept Emery’s side within touching distance of the top ten, a fact that was not lost on the head coach post-match.
“It was a very important win today,” he said.
“First of all, the clean sheet; our objective was to win through the clean sheet and we did it.
“We played better in the first half than in the second half. When they had the red card we didn’t react in our positioning, keeping possession longer and trying as well to be passionate, getting in the box and taking chances.
“At the end, the most important thing is that we did it. It’s going to help us now knowing that we are in the middle of the table and trying to get closer to the top ten teams.”
The Villa players have been working hard to adapt to Emery’s desired style of play since the Spaniard came in, and they showed signs of progress against Palace.
Attacks were launched from Emi Martinez and the back four, who controlled the tempo of the game before the ball was worked through the thirds.
Emery believes they will continue to improve with every training session and every match.
He said: “The team is trying to solve the tactical issues we have been working on, while playing with pressure and trying to dominate.
“The team is taking matches, taking minutes, taking moments and with the analysis after, we can use it to show and to learn.”
