Unai Emery defiant despite late Man City set back in race for Champions League
Unai Emery insisted the race for the Champions League is far from over despite Villa falling to a late defeat at Manchester City.
Matheus Nunes struck in the fourth minute of stoppage time as the hosts snatched a precious victory in the battle for a top-five finish.
Marcus Rashford’s penalty, which cancelled out Bernardo Silva’s opener, appeared to have earned Villa a point from a tense affair at the Etihad.
Defeat instead left them seventh in the table, now four points behind third-placed City in the table.
Emery, who saw his team’s five match winning streak in the league come to an end, sounded a defiant tone post-match.
He said: “Today we lost, but there are still points to play. We will get chances to get in the Champions League.
“When we started at West Ham and then carried on from there, it is a consequence of how we are.
“We are well, but we lost points during the process. I am happy how we are reacting and how every player is facing the moment we are in.”
Rashford, who was preferred to Ollie Watkins up front, hit the post after just 18 seconds but it was City who took the lead in the seventh minute when Emi Martinez couldn’t keep out Silva’s strike.
City had more chances, without seriously testing Martinez, while Rashford was unable to get two decent opportunities on target.
But it was Nunes who had the final say when Jeremy Doku got the better of Axel Disasi and Pau Torres was unable to cut out the cross.
Emery said: “We want to try to improve our mentality and try to compete with Manchester City.
“We wanted to win. We always have to try to build our mentality in this direction.
“It would have been a good point, but not enough because three points is the best option.
“At the beginning I wouldn’t have been happy with one point. We are accepting that Man City are also fighting for the positions in the Champions League. We were competing trying to win.”
