Unai Emery hails Aston Villa turnaround as Wolves win moves them into top four | OneFootball

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery praised his players for the way they have turned their season around after a 1-0 win at home to Wolves moved them into the top four of the Premier League.

Boubacar Kamara’s stunning goal secured Villa a seventh win out of eight league games.

They look a different team to the start of the campaign, where a dreadful summer transfer window led to a lacklustre beginning as they failed to win any of their opening five games and scored just one goal.

Emery’s men now look set to compete at the top end of the Premier League once again, though the Spaniard is remaining grounded.

“The table is, of course, now better how we can see it,” Emery said. “We are going to be humble and realistic. We will focus on each match. We have Brighton away on Wednesday.

“I am very happy, we were excited and motivated to play here in our fortress.

“They competed fantastic and overall I am so happy. How we are responding after our poor start, we are feeling strong and comfortable.

“The players are taking responsibility and working hard every day to have the opportunities we had to do.

“Of course I was worried and I was responsible, I tried to share my worries with the players two months ago and we are remembering it every day.

“The most important is how the players are taking responsibility. We try to set our level high in everything.

“The most important thing is how the players responded to my message, because if they were not responding in the way I wanted it would be impossible.

“They are getting the commitment we need.”

Wolves boss Rob Edwards says his side’s performance “was a step in the right direction”, even if the league table continues to make grim reading.

Wanderers have lost 11 of their 13 games and look certain to drop to the Championship, but this was their best performance of the season.

“I feel sick that we’ve lost, like the lads will do and everyone connected to the club, but we went about it in the best way possible to try and win,” he said.

“I certainly hope it will give us belief. I thought at times we looked really, really good, and went right up against them.

“So there was a lot to like about the performance. And I think we can take a lot of belief and confidence from that.

“Ultimately, it’s not the result that we wanted, but I think it’s a step in the right direction, and hopefully we can learn a lot on that going forward.”