Emery previews Palace challenge

Crystal Palace are the opposition for Unai Emery and his Aston Villa side on Wednesday night.

And ahead of the Premier League clash at Selhurst Park, the club's manager faced questions from the media at Bodymoor Heath.

Here are the key lines from his press conference...

On playing Crystal Palace…

“It’s the team that’s always performing very well against us. Overall, they are performing fantastic.

“Last year, they got the trophies, and their structure is really strong. Their tactical shape is fantastic – how they are performing, how they are feeling confident and comfortable to play against every team.

“Against us, they have performed fantastic, and they beat us. It’s a challenge. We are in good form but we know the difficulties.

“Tomorrow, we will face them getting a challenge for ourselves, respecting them, respecting the coach, respecting the players, how we are, and trying to get our best.”

On Villa’s approach to the game…

“We are going to play with the players we have, competing and adapting to them, because this is a team that normally you need to adapt to.

“Their structure tactically is strong, and they have good players, good positioning – it’s different. We must adapt to them and compete, firstly, thinking about how we can stop them and how we can dominate and to adapt our structure and shape, imposing.

“Individually, the duels tomorrow will be very, very important.”

On Victor Lindelöf's impact…

“I called Juan Mata, his teammate in Manchester United three or four years ago, and I coached Mata in Spain, and he’s a fantastic guy, an intelligent guy, and I called him speaking about the possibility to sign Lindelöf as a player, as a person, the commitment.

“Everything he told me, now we are watching it. He’s a fantastic guy, very professional, respectful. He was being patient and he was adapting to play on the right side when we needed him because we had two injuries to Tyrone Mings and Pau.

“He played in the level we expected. I’m so, so happy with how he’s helping us, and I told him he’s set the level here. Now, he can’t get under this level.”