Unai Emery: Aston Villa’s narrow victory over Brighton was a must-win match | OneFootball

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery admitted their 1-0 Premier League victory over Brighton was a must-win match at Villa Park.

Ferdi Kadioglu hit the crossbar in the game’s first big chance following a low-key first half and James Milner wanted to mark his record-equalling 653rd Premier League appearance with a goal but was denied by Emi Martinez.

The 40-year-old was introduced earlier than he imagined after he replaced Carlos Baleba in the 22nd minute – following his second minute yellow card – a decision which left the Cameroon international visibly upset on the bench.

Aston Villa got the decisive winner five minutes from time when Jack Hinshelwood turned into his own goal following a teasing Leon Bailey delivery from a corner.

Emery admitted it was important to win following a couple of home defeats to Brentford and Everton.

Emery said: “We needed to win. How? Sometimes playing better or worse. We needed to recover confidence today. We are adding players too. The three points are very, very important.

“It was an equal match in the first half and in the second we performed worse but it was equal.

“The set-pieces are another way we are using and exploiting. A draw would be fair, but we lost two matches here before and needed to get energy with the supporters.

“No way (we are not bothered about other team’s results). No way. I don’t want to speak about other teams.

“We focus on ourselves, in our way, our points and how we build the team. We are trying to focus on each match. Other teams will win and lose.”

Tyrone Mings started back-to-back league games for the first time since his hamstring injury which kept him out for two months and thought he celebrated his 200th appearance with a goal.

He got the final touch before Hinshelwood turned into his own net but got the applause from Villa Park following the goal and Emery was quick to praise his captain.

He added: “He played a fantastic game and scored a fantastic goal.

“We were resilient and we can win through set-pieces with the players we have. Keep going now, trying to get our good form, mood and energy.

“Very important, both players (Mings and Pau Torres). We have been successful through Mings and also been successful through Torres. They are different but we can exploit both of their qualities.”

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler felt his side did not deserve to lose the close-knit affair but says his team will continue to work hard to change their fortunes around as they sit in 14.

He said: “We all know we definitely deserved more. The first half was tight, the second half we dominated and controlled the game.

“The team who scores the first goal wins it. Unfortunately Aston Villa did it out of nowhere.

“We have to stick together, put our chin up. We cannot always blame luck, we have to take responsibility. I feel very sorry for the fans, they definitely deserve more.