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Private Aston Villa and Unai Emery stance emerges from behind closed doors at Villa Park
We’re delighted to welcome former Aston Villa full-back Alan Hutton as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Villa Park…
Unai Emery and the Aston Villa squad will privately have their eyes on a spot in the Premier League top four this season, according to Alan Hutton.
After 10 games, Villa are fifth in the standings and just one point behind Liverpool in fourth.
Emery’s men are also unbeaten in six Premier League games, winning five and drawing one.
When asked if he thinks Emery could be targeting a top-four finish this season, Hutton told Villa News: “Behind closed doors, with the squad, yes. He’ll be desperate and he’ll want to push them as far as they can possibly go.
“Recruitment has been outstanding and they’re definitely going in the right direction to push for it. Can they go again in January to get reinforcements to help them kick on? It’s definitely the plan moving forward.
“If they can finish in the European spots – whether it’s the Europa League or the Conference League – that’s another box ticked. It’s another move in the right direction.
“In private, between them, they won’t be mentioning it as much but there might be little rumbles. ‘Can we do it? Can we go and force ourselves on these big teams?’
“They’ve got some big tests coming up and if they get through them, it’s probably a different conversation. But they’re definitely moving in the right direction.”
Villa take on Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Sunday (5 November) in their next outing.
After that, they welcome AZ Alkmaar to Villa Park in the fourth Europa Conference League game before returning to league action with a home clash versus Fulham.
In other Aston Villa news, a £50million transfer claim has been made about Douglas Luiz amid recent speculation.