Emery looks ahead to Chelsea clash

Unai Emery sat down for his pre-match press conference at Bodymoor Heath on Tuesday afternoon, ahead of Aston Villa’s Premier League meeting with Chelsea.

The Blues visit Villa Park on Wednesday evening (ko 7.30pm), with the Villans looking to complete a Premier League double over the West London outfit after a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge in December.

Emery met with the local and national outlets at his side’s training base ahead of the game, discussing his team's form, the size of the game and keeping confidence and belief levels high.

Read the key lines from his pre-match media briefing below…

On his side's form, on the back of Wolves defeat...

“It’s our fourth experience (season) here with Aston Villa. The first year, we arrived in November, and progressively, we were getting better, and we achieved to play in Europe.

“The second year, we started so, so strong the season, and the second part of the season, we struggled, but we achieved Champions League.

“And last year, we started the season, the first part of the season, not very good. The second part, we did a fantastic second part of the season, and we achieved to play in Europa League.

“And this year, we started so poor. We did a fantastic three months, performing so, so good, and now we are in a not good moment, but every day is the opportunity to try to recover confidence, recover our energy, recover our good form we had every day.

“And tomorrow, we can show it in Villa Park against Chelsea.”

On must-win game...?

“Our objective is to be in Europe, and we are in. Even not in good form, we are in.

“And, of course, we are every day trying to recover our good form and our confidence, and tomorrow, Chelsea is our opponent, and, of course, it’s a tough match.

“In Villa Park, we are feeling, overall, really comfortable, playing, showing our form, consistency, except the last matches as we played.

“And, of course, we want to recover our good form at home. We were winning a lot of matches in a row, and we were feeling so, so strong.

“And the last matches, even playing not bad – because the last match against Leeds United, we played well, (it) was not enough, because we drew – we must try to do something better.

“It’s the day 28 – still a lot of matches to play. Ten matches, 30 points.

“And it depends how we are recovering our confidence, how we are recovering our consistency, and how we are as well getting duels against teams they are with us, like tomorrow, Chelsea.

“But still matches to play, still points to play. Of course, tomorrow, if we are winning, we are losing, we are drawing, it’s being very, very different, for us and for them.

“But identifying how good they are now, playing and performing confidently, I think they are very good. And how we are now, we need to recover it – good form, recover confidence – tomorrow is a really good test.

“It’s a fantastic test, and playing at home with our supporters, I think, is better. And how we are having our experiences here in four years, it’s good to try to get balance.”

On how to keep confidence and belief high...

“When we are winning more, (when) we are losing less, everybody, but we must change it, and changing it, we will recover it, confidence.

“And of course, how comfortable we must feel at home, but it’s starting with our demands. Be very, very demanding tomorrow, in the gameplan, in each one, try to get their best.

“Of course, the attitude tomorrow will be really fantastic. I expect it from our players, and then, try to play, identifying their weakness, identifying our power and to exploit it, collectively, individually, and our structure is very important. Tactically, how we can get it as strong as possible.”

On Villa Park atmosphere...

“Firstly, we have to transmit them our energy, and our wishes, our attitude, our skills, and try to connect with them, but starting for us, from our side.

“And then, of course, we need the supporters. We need Villa Park, especially Villa Park.”

On missing John McGinn's leadership...

“We need other leaders. John McGinn, of course, is very important, but he’s not available for tomorrow.

“He’s progressively getting better, but we have enough players to keep our consistency, to get our performance, and to feel comfortable with the players we have.

“I believe, of course, even when we are not achieving it, I continue believing in them.”

On Ollie Watkins and Tammy Abraham...

“Always, he had here another competitive striker. Danny Ings, John Durán, (Marcus) Rashford, (Donyell) Malen, and now, it’s Tammy Abraham.

“We need both strikers, and we need both strikers playing in their best and feeling comfortable with our structure.

“When we are not scoring goals, it’s not only the responsibility for the strikers, it’s for the team, it’s my responsibility, how I can improve things, to fill them, the strikers or the wingers, with the possibilities to score goals.

“This is my concern, and this is my responsibility. It’s not only for the strikers – how we are playing, how we are dominating, how we are getting (in) the opponent’s box with good positions, and good balls crossing, with the last assist, the last passes doing well, to try to get our strikers or our wingers or our midfielders, close to scoring.”

Watch Emery's full pre-match press conference via VillaTV now, by clicking below...