Unai Emery feels his Aston Villa team are in good shape after completing their pre-season campaign in Spain.
The head coach has seen his side come through six friendlies unbeaten, finishing with a 2-1 success against Valencia at the Mestalla.
And Emery says things are moving in the right direction as they turn attentions to next weekend’s Premier League opener.
He said: “Today was a really tough match.
“Playing away is always difficult and we have to be competitive. Today, for example, we weren’t brilliant for 90 minutes, we didn’t control the game like we wanted but I think we competed well.
“Over 90 minutes, we took our moments to control the game better than we were doing. We scored two goals and didn’t concede a lot of chances to them; their goal was a small mistake.
“Now we’re analysing the pre-season, I am happy with the matches we played in the United States, I’m happy with the match we played against Lazio and the match we played today with the atmosphere.
“Next week we are starting away against Newcastle and we have to take the good things we are doing, be competitive and try to stay strong this season.”
Emery has prepared his squad for the campaign ahead during a tour of the USA, a match against Champions League opposition Lazio and Saturday’s clash against the La Liga side.
If Villa progress into the group stages of the Europa Conference League, the squad will have a demanding schedule for much of the season.
Emery is relishing the prospect of more fixtures, and believes his side are ready to get their season underway.
“We are going to play this year, hopefully, a lot of matches,” he said.
“The Conference League is an objective as well but the Premier League is the first competition we are going to face. We have to be fit and make everyone aware that hopefully it’s going to be a long season.
“We are going to play a lot of matches, playing on Thursday and then on Sunday, with FA Cup and Carabao Cup. We did pre-season thinking that we have to work on different things tactically, and we did it.
“We were practicing some tactical decisions and some we are taking really well but others we have to continue learning, improving and taking more information.
“Overall, I’m very happy. We have to be ready and have everyone very excited with our supporters for the first match in Newcastle.
“It’s our objective now to start our season in the best way possible.”
