'Still time' - Unai Emery explains plan to halt Aston Villa's slide
Unai Emery believes hard work is the solution to halting Villa’s slide after reminding his players there is still time to save the season.
The boss has acknowledged his team are in a “bad moment” following a run of just one win in seven matches, which has seen their cushion in the Premier League top-five eroded.
But Emery is confident a solution can be found before their ambitions for the campaign go up in smoke.
Villa, still fourth in the Premier League, visit Lille on Thursday for the first leg of a Europa League last-16 tie.
Emery said: “Now, progressively we are losing but there is still time.
“There is still time to work and build again our structure as strong as possible and feel confidence, individually and collectively there.
“We need to compete in the Premier League and Europa League.”
He continued: “We are in a bad moment, the worst moment. We must react by working hard, through that we can recover our confidence.
“If we cannot recover it, maybe it is in trouble to achieve our objective.
“This bad moment means we must react and the only way I know is to find solutions and work more.”
Villa are facing Lille for the second time in three seasons, having overcome the French club on penalties in a 2024 Conference League quarter-final.
