‘The only way’ - Unai Emery identifies Aston Villa method to acquire vital target

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery remains hopeful of a top-six finish in the Premier League but has admitted qualification for European football depends on one key factor.

The Villans suffered a big blow to their aspirations as they failed to score in the league for the first time ever under their new head coach on Sunday.

Bruno Fernandes’ first half strike was enough for Manchester United to run out 1-0 victors at Old Trafford and the result put an end to Villa’s tremendous unbeaten streak.

But it’s not over just yet as there are still four games to play. Albeit a tough run-in, Emery believes the only way his side will achieve their target is by winning every single fixture left.

“First, we have to win our matches. We have to win points. We have the possibility if we win all the matches in the last four we have to play,” Emery said on Sunday, putting it plainly.

“Of course, there are other teams - Liverpool, Tottenham, Brighton, Brentford. We have to only think about the next match against Wolves because Brighton have three matches less than us and are playing in a key moment for us and for them.”

As it stands, Villa are marginally the most likely to miss out on Europe altogether, with the extra games played coming back to haunt them.

If Emery had taken over just one or two matches earlier, things could have looked very different for the men in claret and blue, but that is merely a hypothetical situation.

The fact of the matter is there’s still a real chance of achieving what would’ve been deemed impossible during the agonisingly disappointing start to the season.

Defeat at United may have hindered Villa’s chances, but Emery was quick to take the result on the chin and learn from it. “The match gave us information and how we can try and impose our game plan,” Emery said.

“We imposed our game plan less in the first half than the second half. When we analyse we can take more information but we can do better,” Emery continued.

Wolves are next up as the Villans prepare to make the short trip to Molineux on Saturday. The week after lies what could potentially decide the European battle – a six-pointer at Villa Park against Tottenham Hotspur.