Unai Emery has said Aston Villa must be mindful of Newcastle’s struggles after qualifying for the Champions League and said his side’s focus is on closing the gap to Premier League title contenders such as Saturday’s opponents, Arsenal.
Villa beat Arsenal home and away last season, the latter a 2-0 win in April that strengthened their hopes of finishing in the top four. Villa subsequently qualified for Europe’s premier competition for the first time since 1982-83, the season after they won the European Cup, but Emery knows doing so presents challenges. Newcastle exceeded expectations by finishing in the top four two seasons ago but 12 months later Eddie Howe’s side finished seventh, missing out on European football altogether because Manchester United won the FA Cup.
“Last year Newcastle were playing in the Champions League, two years ago they were in the top four, but they didn’t get it last year for different reasons,” the Villa manager said. “This objective, we want to avoid some circumstances that could give us the same way like Newcastle or other teams in the past.
“This is our challenge, to keep the same structure and idea, being strong to be a contender ourselves to be in the top seven, top five or top four. Because our objective of course is to be in Europe regularly, consistently, and if we are in the Champions League we can achieve our dreams again.”
Emery believes there is still a gulf between his side and teams such as Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool, repeatedly declaring Mikel Arteta’s side favourites for the game at Villa Park and among those capable of winning the division. “This is the objective, to try to reduce the gap with some teams – one of those teams is Arsenal because they have been very, very competitive,” Emery said. “They are doing very good work, they are improving, they are close to winning the Premier League. They are contenders to win the league with Manchester City and Liverpool. Our capacity to reduce the gap with them is the challenge.”
Villa could hand home debuts to Amadou Onana and Ian Maatsen, signed for a combined £88m. Summer signings Kosta Nedeljkovic and Enzo Barrenechea are also expected to be in the squad. Boubacar Kamara and Tyrone Mings areclosing on returning to first-team training after long-term injuries.
