Emery says “seven teams” have a greater chance than Aston Villa, adding, “We are not contenders.”

Emery says “seven teams” have a greater chance than Aston Villa, adding, “We are not contenders.”

After his Aston Villa team defeated Manchester City 1-0 to go up to third position in the Premier League,

Unai Emery stated it was premature to declare his team a title contender.

Villa tied a club record with their 14th straight home win

thanks to a deflected goal from Leon Bailey in the 74th minute.

Villa could “definitely” be among those left in the running at the conclusion of the season,

according to Pep Guardiola, but Emery emphasised that they still have a

long way to go before they can catch up to teams like City, Arsenal, and Liverpool.

He declared, “We are not contenders.”

Seven teams are stronger contenders than we are. We are currently at game fifteen.

We will concentrate on our upcoming game sixteen versus Arsenal on Saturday.

Although we are pleased to be in third place, it will be extremely challenging to stay there.

“We are going to make an effort to hold it while we are there.

We might be a contender if we continue to go through the season,

winning games and performing well,

but I believe we need more time.

“We are not contenders, but we can believe.”

That remains the same—there are seven more teams.

We are on game 15. Perhaps in games 30 or 32, but not just yet.

Fifteen years to the day after their first meeting,

Emery’s victory over Guardiola was his first as an adversarial coach.

Emery remarked, “I always like to prepare matches against the best players, teams, and coaches.”

“High level players face high level opponents when competing at a high level.

For me, though, beating him is not really noteworthy.

As a coach, it is actually a process that I undertake.

After losing their past four league games,

City dropped to fourth place and six points behind leaders Arsenal.

Though he acknowledged he had a lot on his mind to get Villa’s championship defence back on track,

Guardiola stated that the night belonged to them.

Guardiola declared, “The better team prevailed.”

“Aston Villa outperformed us. We had trouble.

It was very challenging. They are quick, agile,

physically strong players with good organisation skills.

They are up there for that purpose.

We were unable to match their skillful football performance.

“I have a responsibility and a task to figure out how to return.

We have been together for many years, and during that time we have managed to figure out how to win games.

“Now that we are having trouble, we need to alter the dynamic,

win at Luton and Crystal Palace as soon as possible, to alter our perspective and keep winning there.”

Once more, it was evident that Rodri was not present. Due to a ban,

the Spain midfielder has missed four games this season; City has lost all four.

Even with Jack Grealish, Jeremy Doku, and of course Kevin De Bruyne sidelined,

City is clearly dependent on their midfield holder.

Guardiola remarked, “Of course Rodri is so important,

but when Rodri is not there we have to find a way to win against Liverpool and Spurs.”

“Today is easy; you have to accept that the better team won. It occurs in football.

“I know you tried, I know you want it, and you have proven it to me many, many times,” I remarked to the players.

“I have to watch the games, think about it,

and see how we try to do it because the results right now are not good.”

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