Unai Emery explains unexpected Aston Villa decision made before Fulham win

Unai Emery opted for Diego Carlos instead of Ezri Konsa to partner Pau Torres in central defence for Aston Villa’s 3-1 win at Fulham on Saturday.

The suggestion from the pre-match press conference on Friday was that everyone was finally match fit and available for selection, yet the usually ever-present Konsa wasn’t chosen in the first XI at Craven Cottage.

Carlos has played well in recent outings, bouncing back from several mistakes at the start of the season, but Konsa is without doubt ahead of the Brazilian in the pecking order. The confirmed lineups took a lot of people by surprise as a result.

Emery, quizzed about the decision in the post-match press conference, admitted a minor issue meant he opted against using Konsa. He didn’t utilise the England international off the bench, either, maintaining the same back four throughout the entire 90 minutes.

“Of course, we have a new opportunity with different changes in the starting XI, like Konsa was in the bench today after his small injury,” Emery said.

“Pau and Carlos played fantastic. Pau Torres has the challenge to improve a little bit being stronger in the duels with the opponent, but he knows and we are working on it. He reacted fantastic after the goal we conceded.”

The head coach was very forgiving of Pau, who was definitely at fault for the Raul Jimenez goal that gave Fulham a fifth-minute lead. Pau let Bernd Leno’s long pass bounce and then crucially allowed Jimenez goal side, gifting the striker space and time to fire into the bottom corner.

Emery could make defensive changes yet again on Tuesday as Villa play host to Bologna in the UEFA Champions League.