Unai Emery feels confidence returning after Aston Villa end winless run
Aston Villa 3-1 Brentford: Emery’s side had not won any of their last eight matches but ‘broke a spell’ against the Bees
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Your support makes all the difference.Unai Emery felt his Aston Villa side restored confidence by returning to winning ways with a 3-1 victory over Brentford in the Premier League.
Morgan Rogers’ fourth goal of the season, an Ollie Watkins penalty and Matty Cash’s finish put Villa 3-0 up after 34 minutes.
Mikkel Damsgaard pulled one back for Brentford in the second half but the damage had been done as Villa ended their eight-match winless run in all competitions.
Emery was relieved to end the unwanted streak but quickly turned his attention to the next fixture against Southampton on Saturday.
“We broke a spell of bad results we were having,” the Villa boss said.
“We started the first five or 10 minutes not in control of the game but then progressively we controlled.
“Today we achieved those three points and it has given us confidence again but even like that it’s not enough. We have to keep going and think about the next match against Southampton on Saturday.
“The message was try to focus on each match, try to forget the table. How we can recover confidence and feel comfortable at home. Today was a fantastic match.”
Tyrone Mings returned to the starting line-up in the Premier League for the first time since August 2023.
Emery admitted it has been a long road back for the 31-year-old and is pleased to have him back.
He added: “Mings played in the Champions league but it’s the first time in the league for a year and three months.
“I think he played fantastic – he might be tired tomorrow but will be ready for Saturday again.
“It was very, very long, the injury he had. His comeback is fantastic for him and everybody, for the doctor and physio and now he’s training everyday.”
Brentford fell to a sixth away defeat from seven games and have picked up only a solitary point on the road this season.
They have the best home record in the league, with 19 points from seven matches, but they have the joint worst away record.
Bees boss Thomas Frank is confident form will improve on the road.
He said: “On numbers we can’t argue we are better at home than away, but on numbers it’s a coincidence. I think two of the seven away games have been bad.
“The other games we performed well in big spells. I’m confident at the end of the season we will have some wins away from home.”
Frank felt Villa should not have been given a penalty when Ethan Pinnock brought Watkins down.
He added: “I want to argue the penalty. I don’t think it is (one). I think Ollie kicked back and hit Ethan, yes there is an arm on the shoulder but threshold and all that – but that’s not the reason we lost.”
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