Unai Emery admits Liverpool are ‘very difficult to stop’ as Villa boss makes honest Premier League admission | OneFootball

Unai Emery has been full of praise ahead of his side’s trip to face the Premier League champions at Anfield this weekend.

Emery praises Liverpool’s Premier League dominance

(Photo by Jack Thomas/Getty Images)

Speaking to the press (via avfc.co.uk), the Aston Villa boss admitted that Liverpool’s recent success under Arne Slot has been nothing short of “amazing”.

“I have massive respect for them,” said the Spaniard. “They can have some moments where they’re not getting good results, but the coach showed last year his capacity and experience. How they played last year was amazing as a team.”

He went on to add that the Reds’ tactical setup and evolution under our Dutch head coach have impressed him hugely.

“Tactically, I think their impact was fantastic, and they won the Premier League,” he continued. “This year they have the same coach and better players, but they are adapting things and building the team.”

The former Arsenal manager’s comments show just how much respect Villa have for what we’ve built since Slot arrived at Anfield last summer.

Liverpool injury updates and tactical focus

(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Both sides head into this one managing key absences.

Villa will be without Emiliano Buendia and Youri Tielemans, while on our side, Arne Slot confirmed that Ryan Gravenberch has returned to training but Curtis Jones and Alexander Isak remain sidelined.

Even with those injuries, Emery expects Liverpool to remain dangerous.

“To stop them is very difficult,” he said. “They have some injuries like we have. I’m excited and motivated, even more for the difficulties we will face against them.”

Emery’s words underline what we already know – teams fear coming to Anfield.

Villa may be confident, but when even their manager says Liverpool are “very difficult to stop” even in this form, it tells you everything about the standards we’ve set.

You can watch Slot’s full pre-Aston Villa press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:

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