Unai Emery hails Aston Villa for overcoming 'fantastic' Feyenoord test as Marco Bizot shines again

Following their opening victory against Bologna - Villa faced arguably the toughest test of the league phase against the Dutch outfit.

They were hit with the loss of Emi Martinez before kick off - after the Argentinian shot stopper picked up a calf injury in the warm up.

He was replaced by Marco Bizot who was in inspired form again to deny the home side on a number of occasions in the first half.

Villa took more control of the game in the second half - with goals from Emi Buendia and John McGinn enough to secure the points.

Emery said: "My expectation was more or less tough, like the match was.

"We were ready to compete and to be resilient sometimes.

"The test we had was a fantastic test. In the first half they had chances the keeper played fantastic. 

"We had moments to get in the box but they were not so clear.

"In the second half we changed it and dominated a bit more, stopping their press and we got more confident, got into the box and scored goals.

"It was a fantastic win and we completed fantastic, I am so, so proud of how the players responded on the field."

It was Bizot's second consecutive appearance in the competition and his second straight clean sheet - having impressed in last week's home win over Bologna.

And Emery was full of praise for not just his goalkeeper - but the other players who came into the side after Villa went into the clash missing six players through injury.

He added: "We have to be ready with every player. We try and work tactically and individually in the training ground to focus everyone on the role they have.

"And aswell they have to respond on the field. The players did, Marco especially, he is a good guy, a very good goalkeeper and he is accepting of his role.

"We had six players out injured and unavailable and the other players responded fantastically well, including Marco with how he replaced Emi Martinez."