Unai Emery refuses to make Aston Villa call after draw against West Ham
Unai Emery hailed an important point for Villa at West Ham – but refused to call his team contenders for a top-four Premier League finish.
Yesterday’s 1-1 draw at the London Stadium extended Villa’s cushion over fifth-placed Tottenham to three points heading into the international break after the latter were beaten 3-0 at Fulham on Saturday.
Nicolo Zaniolo scored just his second league goal of the season to cancel out Michail Antonio’s opener, with the visitors then surviving a late scare when the Hammers had a stoppage-time goal ruled out for handball, following a VAR check which lasted more than five minutes.
“This point is important because we are still in fourth,” said Emery. “But I will wait until the day 33 or 34 in the season before I change our objective.
“We are fighting for it and we have other teams behind us who can catch us. Until the day 33 or 34 I will not speak about the objective of being in the top four or five.
“Of course, we have to be happy and proud of our work until today. We have to respect the competition as well.”
