Aston Villa boss urges his team to be resilient to survive and thrive in the Premier League considering its difficulty.
Unai Emery has been in charge of Aston Villa since November 2022, but the 2025/26 season has been a rollercoaster for his team. Unlike the previous seasons, they tended to improve in the campaign or stay in the top ten. This season they were almost in the unthinkable position of being relegated before eventually fighting for a Champions League spot.
The former Villarreal and Sevilla boss recently shared the key to success for bouncing back during an exclusive interview with Sky Sports. It is something he expects his team to do in the upcoming fixture after their winless run in three Premier League games.
“This is the Premier League; it’s very difficult, and you must be so, so resilient when you are not performing well to try to keep possibilities to react and to get better like we did.”
Villa had a woeful start this season. They were winless in the first six games in all competitions (five in the Premier League and one in the EFL League Cup), and such did concern the Spanish boss.
“At the beginning, I was worried. After the first month and the first five matches we played, we were in the bottom, and I was worried. Because I know how difficult the Premier League is.”
“In that moment I was worried because I was thinking if we are not reacting, maybe we can’t be involved in the Premier League, be in the relegation zone and maybe we can’t escape this position.”
The Lions slowly began to pick up one win at a time. They managed to turn things around by winning 22 out of 27 games in all competitions, with only four defeats until January 2026.
Those include 11 consecutive wins between November and December, which lifted them to the top three. Emery even dreamed of Villa joining the title race.
“Of course when we were in December and we were close with Manchester City and Arsenal, even I was dreaming in that moment of fighting with them for the title. But of course, we couldn’t keep the same level they have and the same level they are showing. Their power is more than ours; it’s clear.”
Now, they finally have a real chance at a title dream, to end the 30-year-long title drought next Wednesday in the Europa League final. It was something beyond their imagination at the beginning of the season.
Interestingly, Emery also gives comments on how he sees Villa in the Premier League regarding the ‘elite’ sides in the English top flight or whether the term ‘The Big Six’ still exists today.
For me there is a top seven. Newcastle – I think – is in the top seven. We have seen – at the beginning of the season – that there is a top seven in front of us. We are with West Ham; we are with Everton; we are with maybe Fulham or maybe Brighton. We are the teams behind those teams in the top seven.”
Thus, he is proud and feeling positive about his team’s performance this season. They can seal a UCL spot should they beat Liverpool plus lift a continental trophy in the midweek. Emery sees his team as overachieving compared to their contenders with better sources.
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