2-0

“Kamara not available. We are waiting for his progress. His injury is more or less 10 days or two weeks. He’s not going to play tomorrow. Other players are still - Philippe Coutinho and Matty Cash - injured. Both. The same with Kamara, different injuries but are more or less 10 days, two weeks, thinking that they will come back.

“Leon, he’s working as well trying to help the team and trying to be a protagonist on the pitch. He’s not being consistent in his performance but we are supporting and helping him and trying to be demanding with him. He’s doing it.

“Of course, I am waiting for his goals and assists but, since the beginning, I’ve been pushing him to help the team defensively and being committed tactically in everything we want. He’s doing it. I’m happy with him because of his commitment to do everything that we’re demanding of him.

“When I saw Bertrand Traoré here recovering from his injury in Turkey. I asked him about his situation because we were missing a right winger.

“We were working with a talented player, Kadan [Young], who is 16, who was training every day. I was using him in the friendly matches and, really, I knew Traore’s performances with Lyon.

“When he came here, I was aware he played well in the first season. Last year, for different circumstances, he decided to go on loan to Turkey. I spoke to him and he was very committed to helping us. I told him we needed one player with his qualities in the squad.

“The players like him a lot, he’s appreciated in the dressing room. Everyone was happy for him on Tuesday. Now he’s here, it’s not enough for us. I want the best of him for the nine remaining games with us.

“Buendía I told you, Emiliano, his wishes to win. Commitment to work every day is high. His energy is 80% positive. Some days we have to stop him. He can play better. He can help us as a winger playing inside like a Jacob or like Coutinho. It is very important to us how [wingers] can understand tactically the position to get an advantage.

“His quality and skill is very important for us to try and use for an assist and to get in the box and connect with the player getting back like Alex Moreno. Their commitment every day… We create a small family inside to push and help each other. He’s one of them players.

“Ollie Watkins… I was watching his last season at Brentford. He scores goals. We are trying to use his qualities, his commitment, his power to try to add him to learn different ways to improve. He’s very humble to do it.

“Each session is very good; he’s the example. He wants to learn, improve. He listens to everything. He works on and off the pitch. He thinks only about football and watches clips of him and other strikers. It’s the way! It’s a very good example for me to use for other players. Ollie Watkins is 100 percent committed.

“We didn’t speak about it because we are very happy with him. We are involved every day with our target in front, collectively and individually. He deserves to get a new contract, to extend the contract and to get more money. He is deserving. We want to keep him with us.

“We want to improve. We are very demanding but, at the same time, we are watching how they are responding, the players. We want to get to the best level as a team and as a club and individually as well, and to add players to improve the squad.

“We need strikers. We let Danny Ings leave, we added Jhon Duran. He’s young, we’re trying to get a process with him and to accelerate that. We are testing him. If we can have him taking now or the next year, performing like we will need. It is a process.

“With Watkins, we are happy now, he’s progressing. We want to keep him. But, as well, if we can add another striker to play with him to play in different competitions, it’s the idea. I want a stronger squad with two players for each position, and to add performances to get better as a team. That is based on my experiences and we can get better here at Aston Villa.

“We won the last two at home but we haven’t improved enough [at home]. Against Nottingham, we have to be demanding and to be critical of ourselves; looking at the good things but tactically we have to improve. That is my first idea.

“I’m excited like the supporters to show our best; transmitting energy and a good control of the game.

“My message to the supporters is we have to do it together. It’s going to be difficult to be in the position we are in now and to get up in the European position.

“I want our supporters to help us and to be with us and to try to understand to keep our game plan. At home, I want to feel our supporters pushing and helping us tomorrow like they have been doing.

“We have to be very demanding and responsible about our work and be excited to be in a better position. We are doing it. From now until the end of the season we have to be consistent and strong. The next step now, the European competition. We are fighting against Liverpool, Chelsea, Brighton, Brentford. Brighton and Brentford are playing magnificently. Chelsea and Liverpool are out of their normal positions. They’re in a race. We are there, but we know we have to be very consistent, competing better than we are doing at home.

Unai Emery, pre-match.


“Happy, above all for our fans because we’re winning at home. Clean sheet. We scored two goals in each of the last four matches now. We’re going up in the table but we have to take balance as well with the difficulty we have in front. Today, the match was the same as we were thinking, very difficult. We share our moments with our supporters here, winning, playing a competitive match. We improved on some things and took more information to continue on our way to build as a team and in our ideas.

“It’s about the result first but we want to create a way how we can feel better and be competitive and closer to winning each match. Today was a match to be passionate, to defend well and to try and impose our idea on the pitch. Progressively we did better as the match went on. We win 2-0 and it was amazing, the atmosphere, that moment when Watkins scored that second goal.

“We are winning. We are adding a new target in our way. We started trying to escape from the bottom. We did it. We tried to be in the top 10 and now we are there but another target we have is to go to Europe.

“But to go to Europe we have to face other teams who are playing very well. For example, we are now sixth but it’s not real because Brighton have two matches less than us, Liverpool as well and we have to wait for their results and then of course we are going to think to be ambitious but realistic as well. Now, we can add a new target for the next match; it’s to win and we can be with the possibilities to get the European position.

“The last six or seven matches we were speaking because before we lost three matches and conceded 11 goals. Our response after that to improve was really good from the players. The confidence now comes when you are winning and when you are being comfortable on the pitch; sometimes defensively like against Chelsea or keeping the ball like against Leicester.

“Today, it was very difficult to progress. I spoke to the players to be passionate and to try to keep ball possession longer than we do usually because [Forest] were waiting in the middle trying to take our mistakes and take the transition. We didn’t concede it and defensively today was one thing I was very happy with.

“We are very happy for Ollie and Emiliano Martinez because he keeps clean sheet. But thinking about the goalkeeper and striker, we have other players in the middle. They are very, very important as well.

“Pressure is there when you’re in the bottom and you have to win. Pressure was when I was here playing against Manchester United! I remember that moment and I was a little bit under pressure!! Not now, not now. But I like it and I grew up playing under pressure as a coach. I like this, playing against the best, being very, very determined because you are playing for something to win. I want to share with the players; it’s not pressure and it’s to be ambitious and to get to being competitive to being stronger and stronger.

“The crowd are very excited and are trying to support us. I told them before, the idea before is to understand how we can play; how we want to impose and create our style. We want to be supported with this idea we want to do. The only objective is to win. When we win we connect with our supporters.”

Unai Emery.


“I think it shows that I’ve developed a lot, I’ve worked a lot on my finishing. I’ve worked hard for these moments. I don’t think I’d do that finish at the start of the season or maybe last season, dinking the keeper. I’d maybe have tried to go low and it may get saved. I’ve worked a lot on a variety of finishes and I’m happy to be scoring.

“I think [Unai Emery] telling me to be patient [has helped]. We do a lot of debriefs after the game and he’s very detailed. Just taking information in, working on the training pitch and being patient. I know my teammates are going to get the ball and look for me. It’s about being in the right areas and doing my bit, which is about trying to score.

“It [The first half] was frustrating. At times, [especially] the final ball, all of us were a little bit off it today. It was just little moments, it was about the composure in front of goal to pick a final pass or pass it in the goal. They’re key moments so I’m happy I did that today. We got a massive three points in a big week.”

“The manager gives us confidence every game. He mentions that we’ve got to respect each team, it’s the Premier League and isn’t going to be easy, and fight for three points in every game. We’ll continue to do that until the end of the season. There’s a lot of good teams we’ve got to play. We’re up for the challenge and it’s going to be really exciting in these last eight games.”

”We’re defending from the front, the midfielders are well-drilled, credit to the defenders because they’re always having to sprint back. It’s a solid team performance and I’m happy that Emi [Martinez] has got his clean sheet.”

Ollie Watkins.