Unai Emery expressed his thoughts on chasing objectives after a 1-1 draw for Aston Villa.
The Villans were pegged back by Neco Williams against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground after a Murillo own goal put them in the lead. They still sit in fourth position in the Premier League, and the Basque boss believes his men can achieve targets in England as well as the Europa League.
‘The next step forward is excellence’
“The next step forward to achieve is excellence.” — Unai Emery
“We are playing for excellence. We were excellent in December. We were two or three points behind Arsenal and behind Manchester City. And how we were one month ago, was not excellent, like in December, but we were very good.
“And how we are now is the same in our objective, the Europa League quarter-final and in the Premier League top five positions. Of course, today the match is something similar. We played a very good match, but the next step forward is to play excellent to win.
“We tried it, and I’m so happy that we were keeping a strong game plan and the players were following it. We tried to win, we played to win, we competed to win.
“Through our game plan, we planned, and we have got a very good match, a very good point, but still the next step forward to achieve is excellence. We need three points, like the match we played today or in the next matches to be a contender to be in the top five.
“Our next match on Sunday, Sunderland, is the next challenge in the Premier League. And of course, the Europa League is something we must feel comfortable, happy, proud of everything we are doing.
‘Villa Park on Thursday will be something special’
“And Villa Park on Thursday, I want, like today, the supporters who came here to be with us – I don’t know how many, but I think there were 3,000 or 4,000, like in Bologna. It’s fantastic. We can feel them here with us, and we can feel confident, motivated and excited, trying to enjoy the momentum.
“It’s a fantastic match on Thursday. It’s a Europa League quarter-final, and the result we achieved there is not enough. We must play, staying in the game plan we did in Bologna at home with our supporters in Villa Park, feeling something special, so, so special in our fortress.
“But we are respecting them, respecting the competition, and enjoying the momentum. And then, of course, we have Sunderland on Sunday as well. How we are in the league is something extraordinary. But the excellence is the next step forward we can achieve in case we are improving things.”