1-4

“Lamare Bogarde, he is helping us. At the beginning of the season when we needed it, really doing a very great job, always.

“He did the same on Saturday against Chelsea. Of course, his personality is very important.

“We are conceding a lot of goals, we are not being strong defensively like we were in our best moments, and we have to try to use the matches we have, the challenges we have, to try to get it as better as possible in our progress, because in case we are not doing it, it’s going to be very difficult to achieve our objective.”

“Still matches to play. It depends, tomorrow, how we are responding, now the league is progressively passing and the matches still to play is less.

“Of course, we have to try to recover a little bit some points we lost, but in case we are not getting points, it will be more difficult.

“But we are positive, and we are more or less trying to build strong again our structure tactically, mentally, with the players we added for the last transfer window.

“We will need time as well… but each day, each match, is a test, it’s a real challenge for us.

“Now we are in the moment, we can’t waste time, doing all our best.

“I am not analysing it (how many points are needed). I am analysing the match tomorrow, the three points tomorrow.

“I don’t know how much points we will need, but tomorrow of course is very important.”

“They are performing very well. They started in the beginning not getting good results, but progressively they were getting better.

“We played against them two times here at Villa Park and it was very tough matches. We lost, we drew, but they performed very well.

“They are performing overall very well in the league, maybe even better away, getting a lot of points.

“At home, maybe they lost some matches, but they deserved more, because we analysed, we watched it, and they were performing like when we played against them and they could win those matches, they lost the last matches at home, against Everton, against Brentford.

“Tactically, it is difficult to stop them, because their structure is so, so strong, their structure tactically, offensively.

“Defensively as well, they have individually strong players getting a lot of duels and winning duels. The goalkeeper as well is playing fantastic.

“I respect them a lot, I respect their coach a lot, I respect always away playing matches in the Premier League always is very difficult.

“We have our own challenge away to compete better, and tomorrow is a really good test.

“I am excited. I want to see how we are responding, collectively and individually the players, and how we can as well, more or less there, impose our gameplan.”

Unai Emery pre-match.



“We are training this afternoon and after that we will travel to Crystal Palace. We will see. We did a big effort against Chelsea, physically and mentally as well.

“We have to recover physically and our energy. It is going to be very important tomorrow to recover and focusing on this match.

**Is this a deeper squad than last season?**

"We will see it. Our idea always is to try to improve. Players can add something different to us, but we have to build the structure again.

"We have to improve tactically and individually in our way for the next few weeks. Tomorrow is also a very good test about how we can improve and get better.

"We are being demanding because it is not enough how we are doing. We have in front of us lots of challenges."

**How important is versatility in the backline?**

"Lamare Bogarde helped us at the start of the season when we needed it. He is doing a very great job, always, and he did the same on Saturday against Chelsea. His versatility is very important.

"We are progressing with some players who have been injured. Axel Disasi can play tomorrow. Tyrone Mings, we will see how he is feeling. Konsa, after he came back, he feels good. Pau is close to adding to us this week or maybe next week.

"When we are again recovering some players, we can feel again strong like we have to be. We are conceding a lot of goals and we are not being strong defensively like we have been in our best moments.

"In case we are not doing it, it is going to be very hard to achieve our objective."

**How important is it to qualify for Europe again this season?**

"There are still matches to play. It depends. If we hadn’t beaten Chelsea it would have been completely different. It is the same that we can be a contender to be in Europe next year - it depends how we are responding.

"Now the league is progressively passing and there are less matches to play. We have to recover the points we lost. But in case we are not getting points, it would be more difficult.

"We are positive and trying to build a strong structure tactically and mentally with the players we added in the last transfer window.

"We will need time to recover players from injuries. Each day, each match is a test and a big challenge for us. We can’t waste time."

**What do you make of Crystal Palace?**

"They are performing very well. They started at the beginning not getting good results, but then they got better. We have played them twice at Villa Park, losing and drawing.

"They are performing overall very well in the league. Maybe even better away. At home they have lost some matches, but maybe deserved more. We analysed and watched.

"Tactically it is difficult to stop them because their structure is so strong. Individually they have strong players and they win duels. Their goalkeeper is playing fantastic.

"I respect them a lot and their coach a lot. Playing away in the Premier League is always very difficult. We have our own challenge to compete better away. Tomorrow I am excited and I want to see how we respond."

**How up to speed are Rashford and Asensio?**

"Get balance. This is the most important thing. We have to use the squad intelligently."

**How many points will you need to get into the Champions League?**

"I am not analysing it, only the match tomorrow."

**Do you expect Mings and Rogers to train today?**

"His (Rogers’) wish is always to play even when he was telling me on Saturday he was good. He was telling me he could continue.

"He is important. The idea is to have substitutes performing well. One of them is Rogers. In case he is not available, we can use other players."

Unai Emery, pre-match.



"I wanted to try to experience life outside Spain.

"I have already won everything at club level with Real Madrid. In Paris, I also had the opportunity to win titles. This is a new goal, an ambitious project with a coach who wants to win.

"He has that mentality and the players have it too so I am really looking forward to what is left of this season because I believe there are lots of important challenges ahead for Aston Villa and we can feel that the support of the fans is there to help us achieve it.

"It is incredible how they support us and encourage us. If you put that all together, the club, coach, players and fans, we believe that we can aspire towards achieving the maximum this year in the Premier League, the Champions League and the FA Cup.”

Marco Asensio.



"I thought first half we did pretty well, they scored against the run of play. We did well to get back into the game.

"We probably didn't stamp our authority on the game, we probably made it too easy for them to get through us. They deserved the win. We were not good enough and, yes, it's one of those games.

"We are not going to make excuses for that. Last week, we were talking about how good our subs are off the bench. We just weren't good enough today.

"We need to look at ourselves and go again. We have games coming thick and fast in other competitions."

Morgan Rogers post match.



“Each match is difficult away. They are in good form and they have a good structure tactically. We did fantastic for 30 minutes. We got progressively worse. In the second half we tried to recover our positioning, but we conceded more transitions.

“We had the possibility to get a good result, but conceded the second and third goals. They showed us their capacity to dominate the match

“We have to be frustrated, but our demands are increasing. We are not being consistent and losing very good opportunities. We have two more competitions we are competing well in.

“We have to manage our frustration.”

Unai Emery post match.