Villa come into the game on the back of a 2-1 win over AZ Alkmaar at home, as goals from Diego Carlos and Ollie Watkins turned the game around after Vangelis Pavlidis opened the scoring early in the second half. The win puts Villa in a strong position to qualify for the Europa Conference League knockouts.
Last weekend, Villa lost their first Premier League game since early September, tasting defeat at Nottingham Forest. After missing the opportunity to climb into the top four, Villa are searching for their 13th consecutive home league win this weekend against Fulham.
Here are the key takeaways from Emery’s press conference…
FULHAM PREPARATIONS
Villa were unbeaten in six league games heading into their match with Forest at the City Ground, but a goal at the start of each half condemned Emery's side to their third defeat of the season. A win over Fulham is a must considering that the rest of the top eight teams in the division are likely to pick up points this weekend.
Asked if the analysis meeting was longer after losing to Forest last Sunday, Emery said: “Not because we lost, I am trying to be consistent in my plan, trying to be better than yesterday and tomorrow better than today.
“This message is always in my mind and I am repeating it a lot to the players. Then, it is to try and practice and try to analyse each match deeply.
“We have to try and be consistent and work out why we are not being consistent away, why we are not winning or not close to winning the match we played in Europe. We have to respect the opponent and we have to try to stop their game plan.
“We have to accept that we can’t win every match and that we can lose some matches, but of course we have to win more matches than we lose. We have to move on. We analysed the match against AZ Alkmaar at the beginning and we finished this morning speaking about it.“We are going to add a new two matches against Legia Warsaw and Zrinjski, but now it is Fulham. I am going to analyse Fulham with the players, but my analysis is two deductions. One is to analyse ourself, how we can face the match on Sunday, and then try to analyse the opponent, how we can impose our idea with their game plan.”
POSITIVE ENERGY
Villa have made an excellent start to the campaign, but it counts for nothing if they fail to remain consistent over the coming months. Taking each game as it comes is Emery's approach to ensuring his side pick up the points they need to reach their targets this term.
“I want to enjoy each moment, I want to enjoy each match, I want to enjoy Europe, I want to enjoy on Sunday in the Premier League, I want to enjoy when we play in the FA Cup,” Emery explained. “I know the supporters are behind us and, of course, they are demanding well.
“We have to try and connect with them and with a good result it is easier, but also when we are not taking a good result, we have to be together and try to connect with our supporters.”
He added: “It’s something very positive and I like positive energy from every supporter and worker here, players and coaches. I am not feeling to play under pressure, I want to feel that we are playing really focusing on our game plan.
“We are trying to do our best with our qualities and creating a strong structure at home, but also a strong atmosphere with our supporters. On Sunday we will connect with them and do our best, but being intelligent in our game plan.”
FULHAM TEST
This Sunday's opponents, Fulham, have made an underwhelming start to the campaign and sit in 15th after 11 games. Emery is still expecting a tough match against a well-drilled Marco Silva side.
“Fulham, I respect them a lot. The history of Fulham and the players of Fulham, the coach is a very experienced coach, very organised team, very competitive team. They are playing well, they lost against Manchester United at home, but they deserved more. They drew to Arsenal at the Emirates and everything they were doing and we have analysed, we must be alert and to respect them a lot because on Sunday it will be a difficult match."
INJURY UPDATE
Centre-back Diego Carlos picked up an injury in the win over AZ on Thursday, but he is not expected to be missing from the squad for long, although he is a doubt for Sunday.
“Diego Carlos, I don’t know exactly if he is going to be available for Sunday. I think it is a small injury, hopefully not. Jacob Ramsey is progressing really well and is close to training with us in the training sessions, but not yet.
“Alex Moreno is progressing very good and he is available to play on Sunday to start playing.”
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