Unai Emery plays down Aston Villa's Champions League chances
Unai Emery played down Villa’s chances of qualifying for the Champions League this season despite thrashing West Ham 4-1.
Sunday’s win was Villa’s 11th in a row at home in the league and they sit fifth in the table after winning six of their opening nine matches this term, just two points behind leaders Manchester City.
But while Emery admitted supporters were welcome to dream about reaching the Champions League, he insisted his team were still behind the traditional Big Six and Newcastle in the list of contenders for a top four finish.
He replied: “Dreams? Always. My dream is to win the Champions League. I am going to try and do it my way.
“Now we are fifth and there are seven teams contending to be better than us in the table at the end.
“Of course, we are going to try and face each match trying to get a good performance and the three points.
“We have to try and be demanding and consistent. If we are doing that, the consequences will come and we can get more points.”
He added:“There are seven teams contenders in front of us. We are after them. They are Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle, the top seven teams.”
Douglas Luiz scored twice as Villa proved too strong for the Hammers. Though a deflected Jarrod Bowen strike briefly gave the visitors hope, it was extinguished by Ollie Watkins fifth goal in four league matches before substitute Leon Bailey’s late strike capped another fine home victory.
The win was Villa’s first over West Ham in 11 attempts and Emery later admitted to have used the poor recent record as a source of motivation.
“We were trying to motivate in two ways. One was because in the table they were two points behind us and the level we have now, they have as well.
“Another one was demanding with the players the last matches we played here (against them), Emi Martinez, John McGinn, Ezri Konsa, they were not being successful against them. We wanted to change that and we did it."
He added: "The response has been fantastic. The fans as well are understanding our way, our style and they are being patient.
"Our process is going in the right way and hopefully we can keep it going for a long time."
