Unai Emery Wants Aston Villa To Be Title Challengers Next Season

Unai Emery has described winning the Premier League and Champions League with Aston Villa as his “dream” following the team’s achievement of a top-four finish in the English top flight.

Tottenham’s 2-0 loss to Manchester City during the week ensured that the Birmingham club will secure fourth place in the Premier League season, irrespective of the outcome of their upcoming match against Crystal Palace on the final day of the campaign this Sunday.

Emery is urging his team, who have defeated top teams like Manchester City and Arsenal this season, to aim for the ultimate prize.

“When we were in the middle of the season, playing two matches at home against Manchester City and Arsenal and we won both, we were there,” Villa manager Emery said on Friday. “Those teams are amazingly consistent and competitive, with very good players. They have the best coaches as well Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola. I want to get better always. I have my dreams and I believe in my dreams.”

The Spaniard added: “My objective is to win the Premier League, my objective is to win the Champions League, but it’s very, very difficult. I want to dream with our supporters and the players and to believe always in our work. Of course, we’re not contenders, but it’s in our dreams to get something like that in the Premier League or Champions League.”

Aston Villa suffered a 6-2 aggregate defeat to Greek side Olympiacos in the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League but the former Arsenal coach believes his side will learn from their experience in Europe’s third-tier tournament.

“I enjoyed being in the Conference League this year. I enjoyed the way we did and the experiences we had,” he said. “We didn’t win but the experiences we had, with some players playing for the first time in Europe, was fantastic. Everything we are doing here is progressively getting better.”