What Unai Emery has said to Aston Villa players amid Champions League ‘dream’

Unai Emery has told his Aston Villa squad that they deserve to be in the position that they are and to continue to be confident in their race for a Champions League place next season.

Villa cemented their place in the top four positions of the Premier League last week thanks to impressive back-to-back 1-0 home victories over Manchester City and Arsenal. The two results have also led to talk about the team being genuine title contenders this year.

Emery’s side are back in Premier League action on Sunday afternoon when they take on Brentford at the G-Tech Community Stadium. Ahead of the weekend’s games, Villa sit in third place in the Premier League table, two points clear of Tottenham in fifth, following their 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Friday night.

The Villa boss is currently playing down the chances of finishing in the top four at the end of the season. But that has not stopped the players themselves from talking about the possibility.

Full-back Matty Cash has outlined the ‘dream’ of playing in the Champions League. He has also given an insight into the message being sent from Emery to the Villa squad.

“As a group, we've learned a lot from the manager,” he said, via the Mirror. “The attention to detail in his meetings is incredible and we have a lot of long ones, but it's working.

‌“The manager has talked to us about being confident, in terms of we're a team that is here to stay, and we are not here by luck. We're in the top positions because we deserve to be there. We are striving to be better than we were last year when we qualified for Europe.

‌“I'm sure if we do that then we'll finish in the European positions again - or the Champions League. It's a long way away. We've all got dreams that we want to achieve, but we just have to focus on the game ahead.“

Cash is not the only player aiming towards the Champions League at the end of the season. Academy graduate Jacob Ramsey also has his eyes set on qualification and knows a key way in which Villa can take a step closer to achieving that aim.

“Right now, based on how we're playing and the results we're getting - especially at home, our aim should be the top four,” Ramsey said. “If we can transfer our home form into the away fixtures, I don't see why we can't do that.

“There are a lot of teams fighting for those Champions League spots and we've also got the Europa Conference League to focus on and hopefully we can reach the later stages of that competition, too.“