Ezri Konsa was pleased with how Aston Villa stayed focused on the job at hand against Tottenham Hotspur at Villa Park on Friday night.
The home side knew victory was a must to keep themselves in the hunt for a top-five finish in the Premier League, and that’s exactly what they achieved.
Pre-match noise surrounding Spurs’ upcoming Europa League final failed to knock Villa out of their stride as they secured a 2-0 win, with Konsa himself opening the scoring.
“We knew today was a must-win if we want to play Champions League football again,” he said.
“Our focus was on us today. We knew that Tottenham have a final on Wednesday, but we had to be prepared and stay focused and get the win.
“It’s really important for us as players and for the fans [to get Champions League football]. We had a taste of it this season, getting to the quarters.
“As players, it’s a competition you want to play in, and it’s the main goal for us going into the last game.”
Villa are the form side in the top flight, with Friday night’s triumph making it eight wins in their past nine league matches.
Konsa and his teammates will now head into the final day against Manchester United next weekend hoping to apply pressure on the teams above them with another three points to end the season.
He said: “We’ve just been taking it game by game and we haven’t looked too far ahead.
“With the Bournemouth game, we had to go there and win, and we did that. Straightaway, the focus was on today.
“We’ll rest now and focus on United. We know it’s not in our hands, but we’re going to do all we can to get into the top five.”