Unai Emery addresses injuries after Aston Villa's draw with Man United
Unai Emery conceded injuries may have caught up with Villa after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Manchester United.
Villa’s boss described yesterday’s stalemate as “not the best result but not the worst” after a match sorely lacking in quality.
Youri Tielemans registered the home side’s only shot on target, while Bruno Fernandes hit the bar for the visitors from a free-kick, while Marcus Rashford twice drew saves from Emi Martinez.
Villa also suffered another injury setback after Ezri Konsa was forced off early with what is believed to be a hamstring injury.
Emery was also without Amadou Onana, Jacob Ramsey and skipper John McGinn for what was his team’s seventh match in the space of 22 days and just four after an emotional Champions League win over Bayern Munich.
The Spaniard made just three substitutions over the course of the 90 minutes and later said: “In the second half maybe we needed some fresh players but we don’t have them because they’re injured.
“They will help us for the next matches. Seven matches in the next month we need players to be ready to play and get minutes.
“Playing in Europe and then playing against Manchester United, there is a tough demand on us.”
Konsa became the seventh Villa player to suffer injury this season. Leon Bailey started against United despite still feeling the effects of his own hamstring injury, while Matty Cash played for the first time since August.
Emery found positives in a first league clean sheet of the season but admitted his team had not done enough to win. Winger Jaden Philogene came close to snatching all three points at the death but saw his stoppage time shot blocked by Diogo Dalot.
“I think the result for both teams is fair,” said Emery. “Maybe in the first half they controlled the match better.
“We didn’t concede many chances, but they controlled it better than we did.
“The second half we corrected things and pushed in different ways how we could play better in the second half. They hit the crossbar, but we were better in positioning and we created a few chances to score.
“The most important chance we created to score was the last one with Jaden.
“It was a tight match, but we have to accept it and the draw is fair for both teams.
“We are in the top five and in Europe we are challenging very well in the first two matches we played. It is a positive the way we are doing. I am satisfied but also demanding for the next month.”
