Aston Villa manager Unai Emery praises his team for their fight back

Aston Villa head coach Unai Emery is a man who knows what he is doing.

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery praises his team for their fight back

Stephen Oladehinde 18:47 - 22.04.2023

Unai Emery's side played a draw with Brentford at the Brentford Community Stadium and the manager has heaped praise on his team for their late comeback.

With three minutes left before the finish of the game, Douglas Luiz led a late comeback that extended the team's winning streak to nine games.

Villa who are also in the run-in to qualify for European football gave it their all against a resilient Brentford side who took the lead in the second half by Ivan Toney. They rallied late on as Douglas Luiz equalised for the visitors to earn a point and keep their European dream alive.

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Emery left with a positive mood

The Aston Villa head coach was pleased with his side's display against Brentford and left in a positive mood after the game.

Speaking after the game, Emery said, “It was a very good draw. We are very happy with the result. Of course, we wanted to win but we didn’t deserve to win.

“Here, it’s a very difficult team to face and to try to control the game like we have been doing. Away, we have been very competitive and winning and drawing, like in West Ham.

“Today we struggled like we thought could happen, but not like we did in the second half for more than 20, 25 minutes. The reaction was very good and it was a very good point.

“This point can be a good point, trying to keep distance with Brentford in the table.”

Brentford have a good home form and defensive structure

Emery spoke of Brentford's fine home form and strong defensive structure as his team found it hard to get behind them.

Still speaking, he said, “It was very difficult against this team after going behind 1-0 because they’re very strong defensively.

“We did it and I was very happy because the players showed our spirit. They tried to occupy spaces better higher up and get more players in the box.

“Before the match, we were preparing for it. But we didn’t want to happen on the pitch because in that situation we were losing and at the end trying to win the match. It happened and it was a very good reaction from the players.”