Unai Emery hails Aston Villa player's commitment after long goal drought ended
Unai Emery saluted Emi Buendia’s commitment to the Villa cause after the playmaker’s first Premier League goal in two-and-a-half years helped earn victory over Fulham.
Buendia set-up a goal for John McGinn and then scored himself within six minutes of coming on as a half-time substitute.
It completed an impressive comeback from Emery’s men, who had fallen behind to Raul Jimenez’s early header before running out 3-1 winners for their first Premier League victory of the campaign.
Buendia, who missed the whole of the 2023-24 season with a serious knee injury, had the option to leave Villa in the summer.
Emery said: “The most important thing with the players and especially with Buendia is his commitment.
“He didn’t want to leave. We were speaking about it but he wanted to involve and take the commitment here with Aston Villa.
“He is showing it every day. He is trying to get his best through energy, commitment and his qualities.
“He scored, which is fantastic, and I think he is going to be important, very important, this year.”
Ollie Watkins scored for the first time this season to cancel out Jimenez’s goal, four days after missing a penalty in Thursday’s win over Bologna.
“Hopefully, he can keep going,” said Emery. “Today he scored but it is the consequence of how he played on Thursday.
“Even though he missed the penalty, which was important, the big step forward as a player and a team is to be demanding and stick to their task.
“He did it on Thursday and today and the consequence is the goal was coming. Hopefully it continues to come for the next matches.”
Villa will assess Tyrone Mings after he came off in the first half with an ankle injury, while Jadon Sancho missed the match through illness after initially being named on the bench.
