Unai Emery Warns That Aston Villa Are Not Contenders For A Top-four Finish

Unai Emery claims Aston Villa should not be expected to repeat their surprise top-four finish in the Premier League this season.

Emery’s team is eagerly anticipating their first Champions League campaign since the 1982-83 season following their surprising fourth-place finish in the top last season.

But the Spaniard tried to cool expectations of another top-four finish this term ahead of Villa’s Premier League opener at West Ham on Saturday.

Emery thinks that seven teams are in a stronger position to compete in the top four, mentioning Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Manchester United, Chelsea, and Newcastle.

“We’re not contenders to be in the top four. We’re not starting being contenders to be in the top five,” Emery told reporters on Friday.

“There are seven teams who are contenders more than us. They have more capacity than us, and we are trying to develop in every direction we can.

“We are trying to reduce the distance to those teams and we are doing it, but there are still seven teams with more capacity than us at the beginning of the season.”

Emery has seen how Newcastle faced challenges last season as they balanced the demands of the Premier League with the rigorous schedule of the Champions League.

Newcastle had finished fourth in 2022/23 but slumped to a seventh-placed final position last term and crashed out of the Champions League in the group stage.

“The expectations for this year are different because we are going to play in the Champions League,” Emery said.

“We are demanding of ourselves and we want to keep the same spirit we had last year to compete. Trying to be in with the top seven.

“In the Premier League, we have to keep the same competitive spirit we had last year.”

Emery has a well-earned reputation as a European expert after winning the Europa League three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal.

The 52-year-old also led the underdog Villarreal to the Champions League semi-finals in2022.

He wants Villa to enjoy similar success and urged his players not to be content with reaching the group stage of Europe’s elite club competition.

“We are going to compete in the Champions League and I want to compete being a protagonist,” he said.

“I don’t want to play in the Champions League getting there and not being competitive.

“I don’t know about getting to quarter-finals or semi-finals, but we have to be competitive and play each match facing the best teams in the world.”