Aston Villa will go top of the Premier League tomorrow night if they can see off Sheffield United and extend their remarkable home form.
Villa have won their last 15 top-flight matches at Villa Park with the last two coming against Manchester City and Arsenal. Sheffield United come into the game bottom of the table having taken just eight points from 17 games but Emery insists his players will not take the Blades lightly.
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He said: “We are excited and we are very motivated about how we can face the match tomorrow against Sheffield. My concern for tomorrow with the players is that it’s going to be very difficult to win.
“When we were winning against, more or less the best teams in the Premier League, like Arsenal and Manchester City in the last two matches at home, we are now facing the same difficulty against Sheffield as against Arsenal and City.
“We respect them a lot. We are going to try to play, being very demanding because they are with a new coach and their situation of being at the bottom of the table. They are going to be very motivated.
“They know we are a very difficult team to beat at Villa Park and we are feeling very strong. For them it’s a great challenge.”
Emery: “We are trying to get better with each match and we are going to be very demanding in how we can improve.” ???? pic.twitter.com/E8Ubq2Oe0V
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 21, 2023
The home side do have plenty of injuries to contend with, however.
Emery added: “Tyrone Mings and Emi Buendía are out, Bertrand Traoré is out.
“Youri Tielemans is out, Pau Torres is out tomorrow as well, as is Boubacar Kamara with the red card – he is suspended.”
Those absences give United a glimmer of hope and returning boss Chris Wilder says his players must believe they can cause an upset.
He said: “They’re on a fabulous run and an incredibly well coached team with outstanding individuals and an opportunity for them to go top of the division.
“There’s a lot of issues we’ve got to solve on the night but as we talked about it’s no good getting on the bus if you don’t believe or have confidence in your ability or your team’s ability to go and get a result and that’s how we must approach the game.”
