Unai Emery is planning on seeing plenty of action
Villa boss Unai Emery has prepared his squad for a long season, as he eyes progression in Europe.
They concluded pre-season with a 2-1 win over Valencia courtesy of goals from Ollie Watkins and Emi Buendia.
Emery guided Villa into European competition for the first time in 11 years last term with a seventh-place finish.
They will kick-off their European adventure in the Europa Conference League qualifiers later this month.
And Emery is confident that his players are ready for a demanding schedule – starting with a trip to Newcastle on Saturday.
“We are going to play this year, hopefully, a lot of matches,” Emery told the club website.
“The Conference League is an objective as well but the Premier League is the first competition we are going to face. We have to be fit and make everyone aware that hopefully it’s going to be a long season.
“We are going to play a lot of matches, playing on Thursday and then on Sunday, with FA Cup and Carabao Cup. We did pre-season thinking that we have to work on different things tactically, and we did it.
“We were practicing some tactical decisions and some we are taking really well but others we have to continue learning, improving and taking more information.
“Overall, I’m very happy. We have to be ready and have everyone very excited with our supporters for the first match in Newcastle.
“It’s our objective now to start our season in the best way possible.”
