Unai Emery’s Christmas plans sum up Aston Villa boss ahead of Man Utd clash

Birmingham’s Aston Villa newsWatch live as Unai Emery devotes his entire Christmas attention to Manchester United

The fact that Unai Emery has no plans for Christmas shows how dedicated he is to his work at Aston Villa.

Over the last 13 months, he has guided the team’s incredible rise up the Premier League table, and he is deserving of recognition as the manager of 2023. This year, only Manchester City has scored more points than Villa, and they are only one point away from winning the championship come Christmas.

Villa leads all Premier League teams in wins this season, and only Pep Guardiola’s treble-winning club has amassed more wins in the last 40 games since the year’s beginning.

Emery’s team travels to Old Trafford on Boxing Day in the hopes of winning, which would extend their nine-point lead inside the top five. The team is unbeaten in their past ten games in all competitions and qualified for the Europa Conference League last 16 earlier this month.

Villa failed to take the opportunity to climb to the Premier League summit on Friday night as they drew 1-1 with Sheffield United, but Nicolo Zaniolo’s 97th minute equaliser ensured the club’s unbeaten run at home extends to nearly ten months. After the stalemate at Villa Park, Emery was asked about his plans for Christmas ahead of his side’s meeting with Manchester United on Tuesday night.

“I really am focused on the Tuesday match, and while I will enjoy Christmas a little bit, I will approach the Tuesday match with a focused mind,” Emery stated. “For me, getting the finest possible preparation for the game is the most crucial thing.

“After Tuesday’s game, or even after the one against Burnley, I’m going to enjoy Christmas because, as always, the most important thing is to try to concentrate and prepare.

“We will train on Saturday, take a day off on Sunday, and resume training on Monday.” The guidelines aim to maintain a healthy balance while allowing players to enjoy themselves and play with a positive attitude on Tuesday.

Despite dropping points to the league’s bottom club, Emery is rightly delighted with the start to the campaign his team has made. But while the season is only at the halfway mark, he insists Villa must continue to strive for improvement to achieve their ambitious goals this season.

“The Premier League in 38 matches is deserving each team their position,” Emery said. “We are now on day 18 and we will be on day 19 against Manchester United.

“We are content and I am proud of the work we have done, but I want to finish on Tuesday and try to prove to Manchester United that we are currently superior to them in the standings.

They have a better chance than us of finishing in the top four or top seven. This is a wonderful fit for our ability to deal with them, for our relationship with them up until day 19, and for our interaction with the teams we are up against to get there.

“For instance, when we played in Tottenham and won, and when we played Chelsea and lost, it was the same in Newcastle.”

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