Unai Emery insists Aston Villa will battle on all fronts after FA Cup victory
Unai Emery claims Villa are ready to battle on three fronts after winning their first FA Cup tie for eight years.
Saturday’s 1-0 win at Middlesbrough sent Villa through to the fourth round and while his team are sitting second in the Premier League and through to the last-16 of the Europa Conference League, Emery is also targeting glory in the cup.
He said: “We are going to face each competition trying to be a contender to do something.
“The first competition for us is the Premier League because through it we can get our first objective of qualifying for Europe.
“But in the Conference League and FA Cup we have to see it as a good way to get something for our supporters. It is a trophy and as well, it is prestige. It is difficult but is shorter than the Premier League.
“We won’t refuse the possibility to do something in the cup. But we’ll take each match at a time.”
Villa had lost eight straight FA Cup ties before breaking their hoodoo courtesy of Matty Cash’s deflected 87th minute strike.
Emery added: “The FA Cup is a very historic cup competition, maybe the best in the world.
“We were speaking to our players how much they were successful in this competition, not a lot.
“For a long time Villa was successful in this competition, winning seven titles. We are here trying to make another step forward and trying to be a contender.
“One opportunity is the FA Cup. Of course, it is very difficult. Football is very difficult. We made the first step on Saturday and now we are going to focus on the next round. We are going to be ambitious.”
