Aston Villa boss Unai Emery remains coy on Premier League title race claims
Unai Emery remained coy over questions surrounding Aston Villa and a potential Premier League title challenge this season.
Villa climbed into third-place after a dramatic 2-1 win over league leaders Arsenal in the early kick-off at Villa Park last weekend.
In total, Villa have collected nine wins from their past 10 games in the Premier League, and have won eight matches in a row across all competitions for the first time since 1914.
But Emery refused to be drawn into any talk around a title challenge and warned that there is still a long season ahead.
"How we are managing each moment, we are really focusing like I want to focus.
"Each competition, each moment, is responding in our work for the next match we're playing.
"We're not feeling under pressure. We're feeling with our responsibility, each player trying to get to their best.
"They're not thinking more. Of course, 38 matches, there are a lot of points to play and a long way to be consistent and demanding like we are.
"Now, we're in December and we're still feeling good, but each match is a test. On Sunday, it's a huge test again versus West Ham away."
Emi Martinez and Pau Torres both sat out the Villans' 2-1 win at FC Basel in the Europa League on Thursday night.
Martinez picked up a back injury in the 4-3 win at Brighton last week, but started between the sticks against Arsenal.
Torres was forced off against the latter and both players will be assessed ahead of Sunday's trip to the London Stadium.
But despite the uncertainty surrounding the pair, Emery has been pleased by how the rest of the team has responded.
"We need now to know how the players are after yesterday. The players that played [in the win over Basel] and the players that were injured," he added.
"We're training now and again tomorrow morning, then we will travel to London. I don't know but how we're performing collectively when players are out injured, I am so happy how they're responding."
