Unai Emery sends message to Aston Villa ahead of second Man Utd meeting
Villa delivered a fine display to beat United 3-1 on Sunday in Emery’s first match in charge
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Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has challenged his squad to take the same attitude from the Premier League win over Manchester United into their Carabao Cup tie at Old Trafford on Thursday night.
Villa delivered a fine display to beat United 3-1 on Sunday and give Emery the perfect start to his new job.
The former Arsenal boss is expected to freshen up his team for the trip to Manchester, where both Leander Dendoncker and defender Jan Bednarek will be unavailable as they are cup tied.
Whatever side Emery sends out, though, the Spanish coach is determined they will have the required mindset to get another positive result.
“We are going to be playing away, so that is our first challenge, to be having the same performance as we did at home (in the Premier League),” Emery said.
“On Thursday we cannot play with (Leander) Dendoncker or with (Jan) Bednarek because they have played in this competition before with other teams.
“It is going to be different, but my idea is to create and build a team with the same style, but changing some players, to achieve our (needed) performance.”
Emery added: “They are the same players who won 4-0 over Brentford, and they played with the same performances again (in the league game with United).
“Now our challenge is to keep the same performances in the next match. If we will do it, I think we can go one more step ahead.”
Midfielder Morgan Sanson made a brief first appearance of the season when coming on during the closing stages against United.
The 28-year-old former Marseille man could get another chance to impress under Emery.
“He did very well during the days we have been in the training ground,” said the former Paris St Germain boss.
“I know him (from) when he was playing in Marseille when I was in Paris and I think he is a good player. He was injured and out of matches, but I think he can help us.”
Emery confirmed Philippe Coutinho is not expected back in action until following the World Cup break after the Brazilian suffered a quad thigh muscle injury during training.
“He is 100 per cent not going to play on Thursday or Sunday, because he is injured,” the Villa boss said.
“He is going to be longer. The World Cup, I think he is not available to play.”
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