Unai Emery satisfied to take six points from August after win over Leicester

Posted Sunday, September 01, 2024 by PA

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery is happy to finish August with six points on the board after his side secured a 2-1 win over Leicester to return to winning ways.

Amadou Onana’s tap in at the back post and Jhon Duran’s header put Villa in control before Facundo Buonanotte brought Leicester back into the contest.

Referee David Coote had awarded Leicester a penalty in stoppage time after Ezri Konsa brought down Jamie Vardy again but the linesman’s offside flag came to Villa’s rescue.

Emery highlighted August as a “difficult” month and is happy to have six points from a possible nine heading into the international break.

He said: “Very happy, we competed like we did in the first two matches.

“(August is) a difficult moment for every team because playing with the transfer window not too close.

“Those points today and in the first match against West Ham are fantastic to play and win being away. Being competitive and achieving the points and even playing against Arsenal at home we competed well.

“We are trying to be consistent with the same ideas, style. Today I am very happy.

“We closed August with six points and have to be happy but keep going.”

Duran stepped off the bench to score against West Ham and did the same to give Villa some breathing space.

Emery added: “We were speaking about his potential and the most important is his capacity to focus, consistency with us and has now started very well.

“When he arrived in pre-season he was focusing to stay with us, he was training well, he played against West Ham, he played last week and today, hes having chances and scoring.

“Even Ollie Watkins, he isn’t scoring but doing very good work.”

Oliver Skipp fouled Ollie Watkins for the free-kick that led to Villa’s opener which Foxes boss Steve Cooper believes was never a foul.

Cooper believes the quality of refereeing in England does not match the quality of football in the Premier League.

He said: “For me, it should have never been a free-kick in the first place and that changed the complexion of the game.

“I think everyone in the stadium would have got booked if the referee could’ve got round to it.

“I’ve just accepted the refereeing is where it is.

“You just keep your fingers crossed because of where refereeing is every week that it doesn’t go against you on a given game day.

“I realised that more last season, I was away from the game, looking at games more neutrally, you see it clearly, the Premier League is the best in the world without any doubt, but the refereeing for a number of years has been trying to catch up with that.

“The managers meeting we had in pre-season, the clear message to the players and staff was that the threshold of tackles and duels, of this beautiful English game we love, was going to be raised, then we get that.”