Aston Villa: BBC pundit reacts to Gary Neville top four verdict with ‘real pressure’ admission
Aston Villa will be under “real pressure” to return to form at Villa Park and reignite their Champions League hopes following their defeat to Manchester United, according to Alan Hutton.
Unai Emery’s side have lost their last three matches at home in all competitions having previously been unbeatable on their own turf in the Premier League, with defeats to United and Newcastle United seeing Villa slip out of the top four.
Despite that recent poor run of form, Gary Neville has insisted that the Villans can still qualify for the Champions League this season, as long as they ensure that this recent barren run at Villa Park is nothing more than a dip in form [Sky Sports, 11 February].
While Hutton admits that it will be “really difficult” for Emery to turn around his side’s fortunes, he believes that Villa can prove Neville right if they tighten up defensively and find a clinical edge in the final third to return to winning ways.
“It’s really difficult, I’ve been there before,” Hutton told Villa News when asked about Neville’s comments.
“When I was there we were under real pressure to stay in the league so it’s a little bit different from trying to stay in the top four situation. But they’ll go back to what did they do when they were on this amazing run of form at home.
“You don’t have to look that far back. They’ve lost their last three at home and one in the cup, it’s not ideal. They’ve conceded quite a few goals, so they’ll be thinking about how can we stop that first and foremost and then be more clinical moving forward.
“It’s not a huge difference, it’s just moments within games and that’s what the manager will be dialling in on.”
Unai Emery has to rediscover Aston Villa winning formula at Villa Park
As Hutton suggested, Villa have been far from poor in recent weeks, but Emery’s side have repeatedly given up cheap goals and missed excellent chances that have come back to bite them at crucial stages of matches, especially at Villa Park.
Had Ollie Watkins slotted home one of several chances against Manchester United, Villa would have likely claimed all three points and would still be sitting in the Premier League’s top four right now.
Hopefully, starting at Fulham on Saturday (17 February) Villa can get back to winning ways and maintain that form when they return to Villa Park.
In other Aston Villa news, Hutton has admitted a situation involving Luiz would have left him “absolutely raging” against Manchester United
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