Unai Emery made some interesting statements about Tottenham Hotspur after watching them completely dominate his side at Villa Park on Sunday.
As expected, Villa rotated their side for the clash on Sunday, with Emery having half an eye on his side’s Europa League semi-final against Nottingham Forest.
However, not many would have expected Tottenham Hotspur to be as dominant as they were, with the home side not even laying a glove on De Zerbi’s men in the first period.
Emi Buendia’s stoppage time header made the scoreline flatter the Villans, and their head coach has given an honest assessment of the result.
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Unai Emery admits that Tottenham outplayed Aston Villa
There has been a lot of debate and discussion about Emery’s decision to rotate his team against Tottenham, but the Spaniard has now insisted that the credit for the win should go to the Lilywhites.
He admitted that his side found it difficult to compete and create chances once they went 2-0 down.
Speaking after Tottenham’s 2-1 win over his side, Emery said (via Villa’s official website): “Disappointed, but we must accept. Today, Tottenham, especially the first half, they played better than us. They were so, so focused and they scored two goals so quick.
“After, it was more difficult. We tried to react. I think the second half we played more or less reacting, but we couldn’t get really clear chances. We scored the last minute with Emiliano (Buendía).
“But now is the moment I can feel overall how we are doing the season and accepting as well. Today we lost, and today they deserved to win, Tottenham, and keep going in the Premier League to fight for the positions we are.”
Emery insists Spurs are a force despite their position in the table
The Villa boss was even more complimentary of his opponents in his post-match press conference last evening.
Emery asserted that despite the North London club’s position in the table, they showed that they are still a formidable side.
The 54-year-old added (via Football.London): “We were facing Tottenham, a Tottenham with the circumstances, they played a fantastic game. They competed fantastically. They performed better than us, they competed better than us. They are Tottenham, even if they are down the bottom. Today we deserved to lose. Tottenham deserved to win.”