Emery Urges Aston Villa to Maintain High Standards Ahead of Tottenham Clash

Aston Villa’s manager, Unai Emery, is urging his squad to uphold the elevated standards they have established, in anticipation of their upcoming match against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday at 14:00 GMT. Even though Villa currently holds a superior position to Spurs in the league standings, Emery indicated that the financial resources of Sunday’s home team position them as more likely to conclude the season ahead of Aston Villa. “They are the favourites in front of us for the season and favourites for the match on Sunday,” he stated. “But we are competing and we are confident in how we are doing our way.” “We are trying to be contenders with those teams like Tottenham, or Chelsea or Newcastle, to compete with them in the top seven and top six. It is a really great match.” “They are contenders more than us, we have some advantage on the table but after the match on Sunday it could be different. Hopefully, we can compete and control the game.” “They are favourites with Chelsea, with Manchester United, with Newcastle. But we are there and hopefully, we can keep it for a long time.” Emery acknowledged a “big gap” exists between Villa and the aforementioned clubs, yet he has urged his players to persist in their development to close that disparity during play. “Because of the beginning, how we can do a list of who is favourites with the budget, of course (our) budget is not enough to be favourites,” Emery further commented. “But the difference between them and us is still a big gap. But of course, we are not thinking of it.” “I have to tell everybody, there are another seven teams in front of us in the beginning, with the budget, but we are competing and in the last two years we are progressively getting better and keeping the same level we are trying to set as a target.”