Unai Emery admits Aston Villa still have plenty of work to do and has called on his players and fans alike to focus on what will be a crucial Premier League game on Sunday against Manchester United after losing 3-1 to Chelsea in the FA Cup.
Villa fell two goals behind early in the first half as Conor Gallagher and Nicolas Jackson put the away side in command before the break. Enzo Fernandez struck a sensational free-kick to kill Villa’s hopes of staging a comeback, but Moussa Diaby did score a consolation goal after coming off the bench.
“We were excited and motivated and we started well, we didn’t score but we were feeling good,” Emery said. “When they were getting in our box we were not being strong and they were affecting us. They got into our box with some crosses and were clinical.
“I was more or less feeling the difference was the clinical way for them. We scored a little bit late and had no time to score the second goal. We have to accept and analyse the match. To beat them is not easy when you’re not being clinical.
“The subs made a good impact, Ramsey I wanted to keep him because he is getting some injury. I decided to play him in the minutes he played. It’s not relevant to the result, we could comeback with the players who were playing. I was thinking about the management of the players, thinking about not just the match today but the next matches.
“I have to try to keep balance as well, giving the players chances to recover even when they have not been performing well in the match. We are facing Chelsea and they are very good players. We have to assess, I know when we are facing Chelsea in the FA Cup we are playing a contender in the competition and one to be in the top five position in the league.
“We are being consistent in our way and have to continue and build the team. There is still a lot of work to do. Against Chelsea we have to accept the defeat. We have to move on and on Sunday we have a very important game.
“We had an opportunity in the FA Cup. It’s not easy and we are trying to be consistent, to increase our level and be a contender in each competition. We are facing matches like tonight and have to understand we are in our process. Our process is try to be consistent and get some regularity in our way.
“My objective, we have to feel confidence and comfortable at home even when we are not getting a good result.”