Moussa Diaby: Aston Villa can forget Champions League football if major issue is not fixed

Villa have won all five Premier League home matches, scoring 20 goals in the process.

But they have been less impressive away, taking just seven points from six matches and finding the net only six times.

Diaby, targeting a top-five finish following his club record £43million summer switch from Bayer Leverkusen, said: “If we want to play for the Champions League, we have to be able to win any game – home or away.

“We can’t think about the Champions League just now. We have to go step-by-step and work hard to build the team.

“We have a lot of new players and need to continue to work together to play better and win a lot of games to make the top four or five in this league.”

Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest was Villa’s third league away loss of the campaign, with Unai Emery’s team having scored just twice in their last four matches on the road.

Diaby continued: “At home our play is good, away is more difficult but I think every team is like this.

“We have to improve our game away from home in order to stay consistent and we have to find a style away from home which allows us to win.

“We have to find a solution to play well away from Villa Park. Then we can have a really good season because everyone knows how strong we are at home.

“Our problem is we’ve yet to show that form away from home so we must continue to work and improve our gameplan.”