2-0

“To win is always bringing confidence for us.
“But we are being very demanding in everything, and winning, drawing or losing, we are analysing deeply, always how we are doing things.
“Even winning, being demanding to improve things, we will need for the future.
“But how we are now, with the priority in the Premier League, in the fourth position playing on Sunday against West Ham, is a really exciting moment and a very motivated moment for us and for the supporters.
“How we can keep being consistent in the Premier League.
“Even not performing, getting good results in the last matches in the Premier League, we are in a very good position to try to be motivated and excited for Sunday against West Ham, with the supporters and in Villa Park, and for the rest of the season.
“Europa League is another very huge motivation. We are in the quarter-final, of course, Europe is really fantastic, how we are performing, getting to the semi-final two years ago against Olympiacos in Conference League.
“Last year, playing a quarter-final against PSG, the best team in the world. They showed it, and how we were performing as well; we were close to beating them.
“And this year, now Bologna, they beat one of the favourite teams, Roma, yesterday.
“They are performing fantastic, they have good players, and their coach, he is an experienced coach, he’s played two finals in the last four years in Europe.
“And, of course, massive respect for them.
“But how we are is something we must be very proud of, how we are doing it.
“Premier League and Europa League and, of course, I am now really glad how we are going to face, how we are going to play, the last two months in those competitions.
“I can speak again about West Ham, the club or about the coach.
“And this connection is really fantastic because West Ham is a great club and, of course, in Premier League, now they are struggling in the bottom.
“But progressively they are getting better, clearly with Nuno Espirito Santo.
“His experience is really amazing, managing a different moment in his career as a coach, with teams like West Ham performing fantastic, playing in Europe and competing with their personality and Nuno’s personality.
“They are now the last two matches they played, they only lost two, they have lost two against Liverpool and against Chelsea in the last minute. It means a lot.
“They are improving a lot, and they are now getting more points, they are competing fantastic.
“I think they are going to avoid the relegation places because they have fantastic players.
“I think the Premier League is very difficult and, for different circumstances, it can happen for West Ham or even we were involved in it as well some years before.
“This is the Premier League. But now, how they are, and how they are competing, and how they are going to face us on Sunday, is really difficult, a very difficult match.
“Now, Aston Villa in Villa Park against West Ham, how we are both is a very equal match, my expectation.
“The national team for them is very important. And he's [Youri Tielemans] very intelligent.
“His commitment with us is a huge commitment, and he's recovering just to play some minutes on Sunday with us and to go with his national team.
“And, of course, I accepted it, and I want as well to give him the opportunity to go now with his national team.
“For him, it’s very important.
“And just with him, in October or November, after he was coming back, being injured, it was the same situation.
“He went with the national team after, he was getting some minutes after his injury, and going with his national team to play there, their minutes as well.
“We spoke between the club and the national medical teams responsible, to introduce him progressively.
“And he did fantastic. Youri Tielemans is intelligent, and his commitment here with us is a massive commitment to do everything we want.
“Of course, I spoke with him, and I got the deal before, and I got the deal now to do his progressive comeback in the right way with us and with the national team.”
Unai Emery, pre-match.

“We are delighted with how the supporters in Villa Park helped us and transmitted their energy.
“We set out in this match to recover our confidence, our tactical structure, and our style and idea, trying to confirm it on the field, dominating the match and winning it.
“We did it. We won because we were setting our game plan strongly in the direction we planned before the match. The players responded fantastically.
“It was really brilliant how they got the challenge to play in this way and to play recovering confidence and feeling comfortable, collectively and individually.
“Defensively, as well, we kept a clean sheet. We won because the players responded fantastically.
“Set pieces are very important and Austin (MacPhee) is doing fantastic work with the players, and the players are responding in their commitment to follow the game plan in set pieces like they did.
“It’s very important to score through set pieces. It’s important for John McGinn to get numbers, and he did it.
“Another goal for Ollie Watkins is fantastic. He did a fantastic job. Today everything went very good.
“We even deserved more in the first half when we were dominating, not conceding chances for them. We were getting in their box a lot of times.
“We won, and we were always focusing on how we did it.”
Unai Emery, post-match.

“It was massive for us, the last game going into the international break.
“All the teams around us played before and dropped points, so we knew the job at hand today.
“We’ve taken that and maximised our opportunity to push on and get into those Champions League spots.
“It was sweet because I had quite a few opportunities in the game, and the one you least expect – following in off a rebound – fell to me nicely.
“I’ve done well to lift it over the ‘keeper, so I’m really happy with that.
“I’m glad that, after a bit of poor form, we’ve come here today against West Ham, who we knew were going to make it difficult, and put in one of the best performances we’ve had this season.
"Everyone wants to play for their country but I expected that because my form has not been that great. I know what I can do and when I put on an England shirt I feel like I have always performed well."
Ollie Watkins, post-match.

"John McGinn's challenge is to add numbers. Two years ago I told him at the beginning of the season that if he adds numbers, 10 goals and 10 assists, we can achieve our objective. This year is something similar."
Unai Emery on John McGinn.

"More players joined us and it is about the balance in the squad. I told him yesterday that we needed to take out three players. Harvey, Andres and Lindelof. He is getting commitment, I am so happy. It was tactical decision."
Unai Emery on not selecting players.

"Today we did it fantastically. When we won lots of home matches in a row, our performances were similar to today. The last matches at home we did not perform like that. Today, everything we did was dominating and deserving to score goals.
"We stopped them & we did everything like we planned. We needed at home to recover our confidence & energy, to be consistent over 90 mins & to win. We're very motivated for rest of the season for the Europa League & to be in the top positions in the league.
"Very difficult to win matches in PL. Today I am delighted with how the players responded. We set them a challenge not only to win but to feel confidence in our structure. In the first half it was maybe the best half we have played here this year."
Ollie Watkins, post-match.

"He is a fighter. Three years ago he wasn't in the national team when he deserved to be there. He must recover his fighting way. When he does his task, his numbers are coming, like today."
Unai Emery on Ollie Watkins.