Unai Emery has suggested that Aston Villa should not be anticipated to replicate their surprising top-four finish in the Premier League this season. Emery’s team is gearing up for their first Champions League campaign since the 1982-83 season, following their unexpected fourth-place finish last term.
However, ahead of Villa’s Premier League opener against West Ham on Saturday, Emery sought to temper expectations for another top-four spot. He identified Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Manchester United, Chelsea, and Newcastle as teams he believes are better positioned to compete for the top four.
“We’re not contenders to be in the top four. We’re not starting being contenders to be in the top five,” Emery told reporters on Friday.
“There are seven teams who are contenders more than us. They have more capacity than us and we are trying to develop in every direction we can do.
“We are trying to reduce the distance to those teams and we are doing it, but there are still seven teams with more capacity than us at the beginning of the season.”
Emery has seen how Newcastle struggled last season when they had to juggle the demands of the Premier League with the intensity of the Champions League.
Newcastle had finished fourth in 2022/23 but slumped to a seventh-placed final position last term and crashed out of the Champions League in the group stage.
“The expectations for this year are different because we are going to play in the Champions League,” Emery said.
“We are demanding of ourselves and we want to keep the same spirit we had last year to compete. Trying to be in with the top seven.
“In the Premier League, we have to keep the same competitive spirit we had last year.”
Emery is known for his expertise in European competitions, having won the Europa League three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal.
Additionally, he led an underdog Villarreal to the Champions League semi-finals in 2022. The 52-year-old is eager for Aston Villa to achieve similar success and has urged his players to aim beyond simply reaching the group stage of Europe’s premier club competition.
“We are going to compete in the Champions League and I want to compete being a protagonist,” he said.
“I don’t want to play in the Champions League getting there and not being competitive.
“I don’t know about getting to quarter-finals or semi-finals, but we have to be competitive and play each match facing the best teams in the world.”
