Unai Emery expressed his thoughts on a 0-0 draw between Aston Villa and Crystal Palace.
The Eagles have been the kryptonite of Villa since the arrival of Oliver Glasner at Selhurst Park. He oversaw a 5-0 thrashing in May 2024, a 4-1 victory last season and a 3-0 triumph in the FA Cup semi-final on the way to the trophy and was responsible for the Villans’ only loss at Villa Park last year.
So, the winless record of Palace was not to be read into too much before kick-off, and Emery was happy enough to take a point from the trip to South London, still sitting level with Man City in third position in the Premier League table. Next up the assault on another domestic cup competition starts.
“It was a very fantastic response from the players here away against Crystal Palace. We were winning a lot of matches but how we competed today as well was really fantastic.
“We dominated the first half, had chances to score and didn’t concede a lot. In the second half, we started with the same idea and started dominating again. We lost 15-20 minutes when they pushed, creating some chances to score.
“In that moment we were struggling, but we reacted fantastically in the last 20 minutes and created chances, hitting the post through Ollie Watkins,, a very good opportunity for Morgan Rogers and Emiliano Buendia.
“We competed fantastic. In this match we were closer to winning but we drew, and we must accept it. How we are overall in the table on day 21 is fantastic.”
“Now we have the FA Cup against Tottenham, again away, again travelling, but we are accepting it. We must rest now, take good food and prepare the match on Saturday. Starting this competition, the FA Cup, a competition last year that we played a semi-final. Hopefully we can repeat that.”