2026-05-15 11:57:43

Unai Emery feared that Aston Villa would be relegated following their poor start to the season.

Villa will secure Champions League qualification if they beat Liverpool in Friday’s (15.05.26) Premier League clash but the coach felt that his team would be facing a battle to avoid the drop after they failed to win any of their first five matches.

Emery told Sky Sports: “At the beginning, I was worried. After the first month and the first five matches we played and we were in the bottom, I was worried. Because I know how difficult the Premier League is.

“In that moment I was worried because I was thinking if we are not reacting, maybe we can’t be involved in the Premier League, be in the relegation zone and maybe we can’t escape this position.

“Of course we did – and quickly – and then we set our level higher and we are keeping it until now. And even not being [at the level of] the last two months in our performance like we did before, we are keeping it.”

Emery is on the cusp of leading Villa to a fourth straight season of European football – with the club also having the chance to win their first trophy for 30 years when they take on Bundesliga outfit Freiburg in the Europa League final next week – but doesn’t consider his team to be among the “top seven” clubs in the Premier League.

Quizzed on whether there is still a ‘Big Six’ in the top-flight, the Spanish manager said: “For me there is top seven. Newcastle – I think – is in the top seven.

“We have seen – at the beginning of the season – that there is a top seven in front of us. We are with West Ham, we are with Everton, we are with maybe Fulham or maybe Brighton. We are the teams behind those teams in the top seven.

“But there is as well Bournemouth, Brighton, Fulham, Brentford. They are performing fantastic.

“And for different circumstances as well, some teams they are not getting their target – and as well are in the relegation zone. Normally West Ham is a team that should be close with us as well. This is the Premier League.”

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