Unai Emery spoke to the media on Friday afternoon at his pre-match press conference.
The Aston Villa head coach was asked a series of questions as he looked ahead to the return of Premier League action and the Boxing Day game against Liverpool.
Here's what he had to say...
On Emi Martínez…
“We are so proud of him. He won the World Cup with his national team and it’s amazing. Fans of Aston Villa must be very proud of him.
“He’s coming back next week. I want him to rest now because after big emotion and hard work, he has to have some days off to rest then he’ll come back to work with us.”
Emery added: “For me, as a coach, I knew him in Arsenal before when I worked with him. I’m so happy to be here and working with him again.”
On preparing for the Premier League resumption…
“We have used this time to work, to be together. We travelled to Dubai and have worked on tactical issues, offensively and defensively.
“The results of the friendly matches we played wasn’t important, but I don’t like to lose. What’s important is now and how we can use everything we did in this period.
“On Monday, I will expect our best performance collectively and individually.
“It will be amazing to connect with our fans again, and we have to connect on the pitch as well with our new style. I want to show our supporters what we can achieve.”
On the importance of Emiliano Buendía…
“Emi is a very good player and he has a big challenge here with Aston Villa. His career here is just starting.
“Fans of Aston Villa must enjoy him. His position is similar to (Lionel) Messi but they are so different – both Argentinian but very different. We want to enjoy working with him to achieve his best performance.
“He’s doing very good work every day to do his best in the future and in the present with us.”
On facing Liverpool…
“I started playing against them in 2016 in the Europa League final during their first season with Jurgen Klopp. We won a very good match.
“Since then, I lost. I haven’t won again – sometimes a draw with Arsenal – but it’s always a very difficult match against them.
“They’re a difficult team with the amazing way they play. Last year, I played against them with Villarreal in the Champions League semi-finals and we lost two times.
“On Boxing Day, I think it’s going to be different. They started the league with some doubts; they have 22 points and we have 18.
“If we think we can win against them, we can be really close to them. If we get our best performance, I think we can do it. We will be with our fans in our stadium at Villa Park and I think it’s going to be a very special match.”