Aston Villa boss Unai Emery isn’t falling into the trap of playing the role of the favourites against Wolves this weekend
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery(Image: Ryan Browne/Shutterstock)
Unai Emery has warned his Aston Villa players not to underestimate Wolves on Sunday.
Villa’s West Midlands rivals are sitting rock bottom of the Premier League after failing to win any of their opening 12 matches.
With just two points on the board, Wolves have the third-lowest points total 12 games into a season in English top-flight history, behind only Manchester United in 1930-31 and Sheffield United in 2020-21.
Villa head into the match on the back of four straight wins, and seven consecutive home victories, having beaten BSC Young Boys 2-1 in the Europa League on Thursday night.
Emery, however, was keen to point out that Sunday’s opponents came within minutes of beating Tottenham earlier this season, and he warned his players against any complacency this weekend.
“I am not feeling favourite playing a Premier League match because I know that if we are thinking that this is easier than we can prepare, we are not going to play in our 100 per cent,” Emery insisted.
“It is necessary to start winning the match, because even then you can lose. We can use different moments of them and I want to remind that when Wolves played with those players, with a different coach, against Tottenham away, they deserved to win and they drew.
“This match is for me the example of how difficult the Premier League is. Wolves are at the bottom, but with the new coach they are going to be motivated and excited to get a competitive way.
“The coach knows us and he will try to use his capacity, trying to get some points here. After this respect is how we respond and how we want to set the objective in this match.
“We have to respect them, but play with our personality and our good form. To keep our good form, we have to be very demanding.”
“It is so, so strong [the league],” Emery added. “Two years ago, last year and this year, also when I was in the Premier League in 2018. My respect is massive for this game.
“Crystal Palace and Bournemouth are also fighting for the top seven and teams like Liverpool and Newcastle are not getting the points they are usually getting, but they are going to be contenders and will fight for a top seven position, clearly.”
Content cannot be displayed without consentWhat do you make of Emery’s comments? Tell us here
Every day, the BirminghamLive football desk strive to deliver all manner of news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Aston Villa content.
Our dedicated reporter John Townley – who you can follow on X by clicking here – follows Villa home and away and offers you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between.
So much happens day to day and sometimes you can struggle to keep on top of the very latest updates as and when they occur – that’s why we have produced a daily newsletter which you can sign up to, for free, and which means you’ll have a round-up of the key stories land in your email inbox. Sign up to the Villa newsletter here.
You can also get all your favourite content from BirminghamLive’s Villa team on WhatsApp. Click here to sign up for breaking updates about the biggest stories in and around the club.
If you prefer reading our Villa stories on your phone, consider downloading the BirminghamLive app, in which you can personalise the content you see by selecting Villa as one of your designated topics. You can get it from Apple here and for Android here.
Our weekly Aston Villa podcast, Claret And Blue, is also available to watch and listen on all major streaming services. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel here, while you can access the podcast on Spotify here and via Apple here.