Unai Emery has made his stance clear on his side’s clash against Tottenham as the Lilywhites go to Villa Park for what is a must-win game.
Spurs are big favourites to join Burnley and Wolves in the Championship next summer, according to Opta’s Supercomputer.
The Lilywhites have not been given much chance of surviving by some pundits, but their head coach retains the belief that they can pull off a great escape.
Roberto De Zerbi has asked the Tottenham players to leave everything on the pitch, with the Italian confident that his side are good enough to survive.
Unai Emery insists Aston Villa are motivated to beat Tottenham
With Villa embroiled in a Europa League semifinal tie against Nottingham Forest, Tottenham fans would have been hoping that their opponents would take the eye off the ball on Sunday.
However, Unai Emery has made it clear that he and his players are very motivated to get three points against Spurs, insisting that Sunday’s clash will be their only focus for now.
Emery said (via The Birmingham Mail): “We are now focusing on the match on Sunday against Tottenham. Yesterday, everything that happened is now done and it was the first part of the two legs we are going to. We are analysing, but we are going to have a break from analysing and focus on the second match at home against Nottingham.
“It is going to be very important, but now we have to focus in the league. Yesterday, everything that happened with the referees and the decision of VAR, those issues, I spoke about it yesterday in the press conference. I think it is done.”
“Each match is very, very important in the Premier League. We are on matchday 35. We are completely focusing on it as a priority. Of course, the priority yesterday was Forest in the Europa League, but the priority is the Premier League – to be consistent and demanding there, to achieve our huge challenge this year: to be again in the Champions League.”
Emery insists Villa still need points in the Premier League
The Villans are eight points clear of Brighton in sixth place and are on course to secure Champions League qualification.
The Spurs faithful may thus have been hoping for Emery to rotate his side ahead of the second leg against Forest, but the Villa boss believes his side still has work to do to secure Champions League qualification.
When asked if he feels Villa need more points to secure a top-five finish, the Spaniard said: “It depends! When we won in the last minute against Sunderland two weeks ago, I was positive. Last week against Fulham, I was not too positive about everything we are doing and about the points we need to get the fifth, fourth, or third positions.
“There are some teams behind us and they are performing well, like Brighton or still Chelsea, with their potential and capacity to win a lot of matches at the end of the season. We must get our own matches, focusing on those matches and trying to get points. The first one is against Tottenham on Sunday.
“I am positive and delighted with how we are arriving at the moment we are in now, playing in a semi-final and being in the position we are in the league “It is really fantastic, with the consistency we are achieving. Still, the last challenges are here to play.”