Emery applauds Villa display

Unai Emery praised his Aston Villa side after their outstanding 4-1 victory against a strong AZ Alkmaar.

Leon Bailey set Villa on their way at AZ Stadion before Youri Tielemans underlined a fine display when he doubled the visitors’ advantage midway through the first half.

Ollie Watkins added a third shortly after the interval and John McGinn got in on the act to make it 4-0, putting the travelling Villa faithful in dreamland in the Netherlands.

And despite AZ getting on the scoresheet, it was Villa who emerged triumphant in resounding fashion.

“It really was very important, this match,” head coach Emery told VillaTV post-match.

“There were 1,000 fans here helping us.

“We played being very competitive in the 90 minutes as well against a good team.

“They are strong in the league, they played in the semi-finals of this competition last year and they have experiences in this competition.

“We needed to be focused in the 90 minutes. When we needed transition, we did.

“We needed control of the ball to keep possession, we did.

“And I think we played being responsible and mature, trying to get a good performance collectively.

“And adding some of the players as well and getting from them their best qualities. In the last matches, they didn’t start in the starting XI, like Leon Bailey, Youri Tielemans.

“It was very important trying to get the performance with every player.”

Villa now move on to six points at the halfway stage in Europa Conference League Group E.

Following a 3-2 defeat away to Legia Warszawa, Villa have recorded back-to-back wins over HŠK Zrinjski and AZ, with their Dutch opponents next up in the return fixture at Villa Park.

Looking at the group stage at the midway point, Emery added: “We have to be consistent.

“We are going to play at home against AZ Alkmaar in the next two weeks, it will again be very important to try and win this match because it’s still very tight with Legia Warszawa and Zrinjski.

“Every team had won one and lost one match (before tonight), today we added another victory and this is very important.

“But, of course, we have to be consistent, try to continue in our work and be demanding.”

You can watch Unai’s full interview below…