Unai Emery admits Aston Villa are Europe contenders after win at Leicester

Bertrand Traore’s 87th minute winner earned Emery’s men their third win on the spin and a fifth in their last six matches.

The head coach believes qualifying for Europe will still be tricky but conceded his team can now consider it a genuine target.

“First we have to be consistent in the top-10,” he said. “With those three victories we have added nine points in the table and now we can add another step, in thinking about being a candidate for the European positions.

“It is going to be very difficult because Brighton and Brentford are playing very well. We are now with them and Chelsea and Liverpool too – they have to fight to be in Europe next year and are going to react, I think.

“But we can have ambition and motivation to try and be a candidate.”

Villa’s win at the King Power Stadium was their sixth in eight away matches under Emery, who has overseen a remarkable reversal in fortunes since taking charge with the team hovering above the relegation zone.

Ollie Watkins scored for the sixth straight away match to open the scoring and though Harvey Barnes levelled for the managerless hosts, Traore struck the winner after Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall had been sent-off.

It was the Burkina Faso international’s first Premier League goal in nearly two years, having previously been loaned out to Istanbul Basaksehir under Emery’s predecessor, Steven Gerrard.

“He’s very appreciated in the dressing room,” said Emery. “Everyone loves him. He decided to stay here to try and help us.

“He was injured at the beginning. Today he is happy and we are happy because he is a very good guy, with good skills too. He has the capacity to score and his goal is really good for him and helps us.”