Unai Emery believes securing European football will be the hardest step Aston Villa have had to take during his tenure.
Upon joining the club in October, the head coach was initially focused on climbing away from the relegation zone before he guided the team into the top ten in the Premier League.
And with a top-seven finish on the line in Sunday’s season finale against Brighton & Hove Albion, Villa have their destiny in their own hands.
“We have to be very ambitious, and I am. I’m here trying to push everybody, to demand from everybody to get better playing and to take European places,” he said.
“We have to take each step being strong and being passionate about how to do it. We are in this way. We are progressing very well.
“I’m very, very happy with the players and their commitment, their character and they are responding very well. We are also connecting with our supporters.
“We are in the first step. If we achieve our objective on Sunday we will be very, very happy. It’s the next step because we started by escaping from the bottom [of the table], we got into the top ten and then we have the objective to be in the European places.
“The most difficult step is to get it, but we have our objective. And then if we don’t, it’s not changing our idea or our mind about how we want to improve.”
The Spaniard is meticulous in his preparation for each and every match, and Sunday is no different.
Emery’s preparations have been years in the making due to his knowledge and analysis of Brighton’s head coaches, including current boss Roberto De Zerbi.
He said: “I started knowing something about Brighton when they were in the Championship and I played a friendly match against them with Sevilla. They had (Chris) Houghton as a coach.
“I played against them with Arsenal in the Premier League and then I followed them with (Graham) Potter as coach and now with De Zerbi.
“Of course, they are different coaches with different styles. They are improving a lot and it’s not only due to the coach but the club and the recruitment as well.
“The city of Brighton are very happy with their team and they impress a lot of supporters, coaches and me as well.”
