Unai Emery believes Villa’s lack of a “surprise package” is making things more difficult this season, despite previously expressing confidence in his team’s ability to reverse their worrisome slump.
Villa’s 3-0 defeat at Chelsea extended their winless streak to eight games, and they have dropped to the bottom half of the Premier League table after collecting only two points in their last five games.
The current run is their worst since Emery took over two years ago and converted a relegation-threatened club into one that qualified for the Champions League last season.
However, he believes that the fact that opponents are now giving them more respect, combined with the improvement of competitors like as Chelsea, makes duplicating that success much more difficult.He informed us: “This year has been different because we are not a surprise like last year.”They (Chelsea) are not in doubt like last year. Last year, we maintained consistency in our approach and style with the same players.This year, several teams are attempting to challenge us, believing that we are a top-seven contender.
“Chelsea deserved to win, but we need to remain calm. We missed one opportunity because the gap before the game was three points, and we are now six points behind them. We’re focused on our next match on Wednesday and trying to break this string of poor outcomes.”
Villa face Brentford on Wednesday before hosting Southampton, which Emery believes will provide an opportunity to rebound.
“I am confident we can recover again our good form,” he claimed. “The players are disappointed with the result but they understand how we can manage again this moment.”
Villa have only maintained one clean sheet in their previous 18 Premier League matches, dating back to April, and their defence was penetrated just seven minutes at Stamford Bridge when Nicolas Jackson volleyed home a cross.
Enzo Fernandez doubled the lead just before halftime, and Cole Palmer completed the scoring with a spectacular effort. Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez stopped two chances from Ollie Watkins, and he also denied John McGinn, as Villa failed to score for the fourth time in 13 league games this season.
Emery was eager to congratulate the hosts, who appear to have improved significantly under Enzo Maresca.
He stated: “Chelsea today demonstrated that this year is different. They’re feeling stronger. They have more power and capability. We had to attempt to maintain balance, and we had opportunities to score. Perhaps this would have changed things, and they deserved to win.
“They shown their power for the year. I know this year will be more challenging because some teams, such as Chelsea, feel stronger today.
“We are going to regain our trust in everything we are doing, and we understand that this year will be more tough.
“We are in the process of establishing the team, which we started last year and accomplished some of the goals we set for ourselves when we moved here.
“We need points to be in the top eight or to reach the top. We have to return with positive results.”
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