"Everything happens with players - maybe staying, maybe they were close to leaving, maybe other players were close to others or to join us,"

"It's normal.

"I understand it completely, everything. Staying here is good news - I am so, so happy. He is the best goalkeeper in the world and his commitment to Aston Villa is massive.

"He is always training to be his best, respecting Aston Villa. Some circumstances happen. Everyone is happy and the energy today was very good.

"Emi is happy and now he knows his challenge is with Aston Villa and his national team."

**Unai Emery on Emiliano Martínez.**


"Sancho was not training with the group and, physically, he will need time. Harvey Elliott was training and playing consistently with Liverpool and is more or less fit. Lindelof was training individually and he is available to be with us, but he will need time to know us tactically.

"Matty Cash is available. We have some players injured who are close like [Andres] Garcia, [Boubacar] Kamara and [Amadou] Onana. Ross Barkley has a personal issue and I think he will come back and be available soon, but not yet.

"We are trying to get everything to try to build the team as soon as possible. With signing three players [late] and [Jacob] Ramsey and [Leon] Bailey leaving, we have to adapt as soon as possible.

“Everton are playing fantastic and have experienced players. The new stadium makes the players and supporters excited. I want to play matches like this, it is a privilege as a coach."

**Unai Emery, pre-match.**


**Unai, your overall thoughts on the draw?**

"Good things. Not the best result, but it was a good point. We are building a team and overcoming circumstances that didn’t help us. Very good news today is that Emi Martinez is back and played fantastic. We need him. Bogarde played as a midfielder because we had three out. He played fantastic. Lindelof also played as a midfielder.

"The performance and the discipline and organisation was very good. Offensively, when we were dominating we needed to be more aggressive and man-to-man. We tried to connect better, but three, four passes didn't connect.

"We didn’t have huge chances to score, but got into their box. They did it more than us. This point is something important after we were not scoring or winning, but we are building our spirit. We are getting emotions together and balance. For me, today there were a lot of very good things. We need to win, but this point helps us."

**Are you worried about your lack of goals, but confident that it will soon change?**

"It is something we have to arrange tactically. It is not just because of the striker, winger or defensive midfielder. We have to try to get something better to help the strikers to get into better positions to score.

"We can get confidence by drawing today and then winning in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday hopefully. I know the situation we are in and we are adapting to new players coming in. I accept the point. I am happy. I could be worried a little bit, but confident for the future."

**Did Tielemans come off injured?**

"Yes."

**What is the injury and how long will he be out for?**

“Hopefully we can recover Kamara and Onana – Barkley too. But today, Lamare Bogarde helped us a lot. He did a fantastic job and I’m happy for him. Lindelöf also played as a midfielder for 10 minutes. That’s the commitment we need.”

**Was it difficult for Martinez to come back in and perform?**

"I am so, so happy. We need him. We struggled, each one, for his situation, but we have to get feelings together and feel the collective objective and then the individual objective. Today his comeback has been fantastic. We have to protect him and feel him inside the group so he is comfortable and confident. Today he was fantastic.

"We are not scoring but we didn’t concede a goal. Everton are playing better and with confidence. They are excited with the new stadium. I enjoyed the match because we competed and suffered. I enjoyed it. This is the way I want."

**Is Watkins lacking confidence?**

"We have to protect him too and every player must feel comfortable. We have good and bad moments. The players have their problems with confidence or getting their performance, but we have to get the best balance. It is important to be consistent when winning or not.

"For Ollie Watkins. Calm. Keep working. We are not scoring and the striker is the first point we are watching. I am not worried for him especially. We will score again and he will score again."

**Unai Emery, post-match.**


“Tough match.

“We had a few chances to win the game. They had a few as well. A clean sheet is a positive, but we want to pick up points and win games.

"We were solid today - maybe more solid than we’ve been in recent weeks. It is tough. We want to score. The forwards want to score. You’ve seen the quality over the last few seasons—the goals we’ve scored and the chances we’ve created.”

**Matty Cash, post-match.**


We competed very well. Again, the goalkeeper [Emiliano Martinez] coming back playing a fantastic match.

"He saved us a lot of times. He made us confident we could play with our identity. Of course, we need defence and a lot of corners and a throw-in defence compact like we did. We need to get more confidence to play with the ball.

"Get more in their box – this is now our next step forward after a lot of difficulties we have had. I am so happy because we played compact and we played committed. The players followed the gameplan we had.

"Of course, offensively we need more. We need to try to help out strikers, wingers and midfielders. [I am] happy because we competed and this it the first step forward."

"Yes, Tielemans is injured. We have some players injured and out. Amadou Onana and Boubacar Kamara are going to come back.

"Youri is going to be out some matches. We need to feel confidence playing with different players.

"We are going to work, and we know inside the problem we have."

**Unai Emery, post-match.**


"The mood in the changing room is fine. In tough moments we need to stick together and that's what we're doing now."

"I felt like we lacked that final pass and the final shot. I know the boys up top are frustrated that we have not scored a goal, so we will go back, and they will be working hard to make sure they score the next game."

A point in the right direction – we kept a clean sheet which was important for us. We knew how tough it was coming here. They had chances and Emi Martinez made top saves. A point in the right direction and we go from there."

**Ezri Konsa, post-match.**


“A point that doesn't shine, yes, we need goals, of course they will come... but a point that strengthens us and our spirit. We're working well and we'll soon improve. The first stone of a magnificent construction never attracts the attention of spectators. But it's very necessary.

“It's not just about admiring the final result. I'm happy to see Emi performing at such a high level and even more so to see our fans singing his song. Thanks to the fans who traveled; your energy and generosity helped us enormously today! In Unai and the players I believe UTV!”

**Director of football operations Damian Vidagany, post-match.**


“My thoughts are that I am genuinely optimistic, based on the facts that we have a proven very good squad and a proven great manager and they are working hard and together.

“In the interim, my humble suggestion is to ask - understanding moods are not high - to help the boys with support and memory of what they did in 3 amazing years. Much better years than the previous 15, 20? If you don’t want to give them credit, I respect it. If someone wants to push us with negativity, it is ok, you also can do it. But it is useless.

“If you want to help, as you the fans are the real owners of the Villa and protectors of the club and we know you deserve more. But let me remind you that in football there are good times and not good times. And everyone can choose one way or another. I believe in Unai and my team.”

**Director of football operations Damian Vidagany, post-match.**