Unai Emery addressed the media from Bodymoor Heath on Friday afternoon as he looked ahead to Sunday’s game against Wolves.
There were plenty of topics discussed as Aston Villa’s head coach previewed the trip to Molineux.
Here’s what he had to say…
On team news…
When asked about Jacob Ramsey and Alex Moreno, he said: “For Sunday, no, they are not going to be available.
“Jacob Ramsey will need time again to recover his injury. He has an injury and he’s not going to be available.
“Alex Moreno was progressing, he was working with the team, he was doing training sessions, but he needed to stop because he wasn’t feeling good. Now, he’s feeling better and hopefully after the break he could be with the group, training every day.
“Moussa Diaby and Boubacar Kamara are going to work with the team tomorrow. And in case they feel good, they could be [playing], but it’s not 100 per cent.”
On John McGinn’s importance…
“He’s positive; he’s smiling every day. He’s very responsible and mature. He likes football. He likes to work in football and he wants to win every match.
“He’s available; he plays more or less 90 minutes for his national team and he’s playing with us every match. He’s ready and always doing his work, being versatile.
“For us, with our injuries, he’s even played as a left-back. I want his energy and his positive face every day.”
On playing Wolves…
“I haven’t won against Wolverhampton and some players here who’ve played the last few years didn’t win.
“We’re going to face on Sunday a very tough match. Every minute after the match yesterday I am thinking about how we can be competitive there, adding more possibilities to win.
“They are very competitive. I appreciate the coach as well because he is doing good work. Some players are in a good moment: Pedro Neto, Matheus Cunha.
“They are playing with three centre-backs, being strong and feeling good. It’s always hard to play away.”
On competing at the top of the table…
“To be in the top four is very difficult, and we are not contenders. There are other teams who are contenders for those positions.
“When we are in the possibility to get those positions in the table we have to be very demanding and believe. We have to build a team, trying to get better each match and feel strong with our structure.
“The next consequences are that we will feel comfortable playing and being confident trying to face the top seven teams, being a contender for that.”