Unai Emery makes 'bad moment' admission after Aston Villa suffer damaging Chelsea defeat

Joao Pedro’s hat-trick saw the visitors run out 4-1 winners to move within three points of fourth-placed Villa.

Emery’s men still remain in pole position to secure a top-five finish but have won just one of their last six Premier League matches.

The boss said: “We are in a bad moment. And why? Maybe we lost a little bit our structure.

“Our structure was so, so strong when we were being consistent, in different competitions.

“The objective we have in front, there is still time to recover it.

“Today, we lost an opportunity, though it was always going to be difficult facing Chelsea. They played fantastic and deserved to win.”

Douglas Luiz gave Villa the perfect start when he fired them in front inside two minutes.

Ollie Watkins then saw a goal ruled out for a marginal VAR offside after Pedro had equalised and the Chelsea player then got his second to give the visitors a 2-1 half-time lead.

Cole Palmer pounced on an Emi Martinez mistake to extend Chelsea’s advantage before Pedro completed his treble in the 64th minute.

“The first half they were playing well, dominating and getting in our box more than us,” said Emery.

“But even like that we were taking our momentum as well, scoring one goal and getting chances.

“The second goal was the key moment. The second half was more difficult.

“We started well and wanted to recover our gameplan but they scored the first goal, defending well and deserved to win.

“We accept the bad moment we are in. The momentum we must try to find solutions to recover our structure and this is my concern.

“Mainly the confidence we need to recover, the confidence we need to recover. Our structure, we were building, we have lost a little bit.

“After it, the bad moment, it is clear. Chelsea won the match but there is still a three point difference between them and us.

“We are losing opportunities but there is still time to recover it.”