Unai Emery assessed the challenge facing Aston Villa this weekend at his pre-match press conference on Friday.
The club’s head coach was quizzed on facing compatriot Julen Lopetegui’s Wolves, his team news for the game and playing derby matches.
Here’s what he had to say…
On team news…
“We are slowly adding players to the squad to be ready for tomorrow.
“This week was fantastic. Coutinho started training on Monday, Kamara and Leon on Wednesday and Matty Cash started training with the group yesterday.
“Of course, for tomorrow, after their injuries being out for some weeks, they could be in the squad to play.
“We are going to analyse the last 24 hours before the match, with the possibility if we are adding them to be (involved) in the match, with some possibilities to play.”
On bouncing back from defeat…
“My ambition and obsession is to improve and to try to analyse each match as best as possible with the players, showing them our analysis individually and collectively.
“We are very, very demanding. To lose in Manchester was a bad result, but it’s another match to use to improve and analyse with the players.
“I want to use this match and the one we played against Brentford to try and improve things tomorrow against Wolverhampton. Our challenge, like when I came here, is to be competitive and a really strong team playing away.
“The last two away matches, we only got one point. Tomorrow in Wolverhampton is very important for us, trying to be competitive and having the possibility to win.”
On Julen Lopetegui…
“He’s an experienced coach who has won titles. His teams play very good football and he’s trying to find out how his team now can play better.
“Sometimes they play 4-3-3, sometimes 4-4-2, but they’re always very competitive. They have very good players and their coach is very demanding.
“He’s very difficult to face and to win matches against; my experiences against him in Spain have been like that.”
On the rivalry with Wolves…
“I’m speaking with the players because it’s very important that they can feel that we’re playing against Wolverhampton and that it’s a derby.
“I enjoy a lot to play derbies. Most important is that the players feel it.
“We have to play it with two objectives: one, to play well because that is the way to win, and then trying to be competitive and adapt to the emotions we are going to face.”
He added: “We have experience from the match we played here at home, but I think it’s going to be a little bit different.
“They are now better, we are now better and we’re playing in their stadium with their supporters. Our supporters will be there as well, travelling to support us, and we will try to connect with them.”
