Tyrone Mings learning from Aston Villa boss Unai Emery

Players have experienced their first extended time working with the new boss while training in temperatures of around 30 degrees.

Villa today face Brighton in the first of two friendly matches in the Middle East and defender Mings said: “I feel like I am learning every day. You really have to be switched on during training sessions because there is a lot of information to take in.

“There is a lot of information I have never been exposed to before as well, a real high level of coaching.

“My job is slightly different to the roles I’ve had under previous managers. I am really enjoying learning and this time will be crucial for myself and the team.”

Villa are more than halfway through the Premier League’s six-week World Cup hiatus. They will play Chelsea in Dubai on Sunday before hosting Emery’s former club Villareal at Villa Park next Thursday. The domestic campaign resumes with a home fixture against Liverpool on Boxing Day.

Mings continued: “For sure we haven’t had this in the season before but we have certainly had breaks before.

“We had disrupted seasons with Covid, people testing positive and squads being different. We’ve had international breaks and mid-season breaks.

“We’ve also been through plenty of pre-seasons in our career as well. It is kind of like merging the two together and not trying to do too much, too soon.

“We have some real good benchmarks in these games to find out where we are fitness-wise and performance-wise.”