Unai Emery pays tribute to sick Aston Villa star after stunning display

The Brazilian midfielder pulled the strings as Villa blew away Sheffield United 5-0 on Saturday evening to move back into the Premier League top four.

Emery’s team scored four goals in the first 30 minutes and Luiz helped set up the first two, delivering one of the passes of the season for Ollie Watkins to bag the second.

He was taken off at half-time and Emery later explained how he had been touch-and-go to start the match due to illness.

“He didn’t feel very well before the match this morning but wanted to play because he was feeling the power to play and get the performance to help the team,” said the Villa boss.

“At half-time we decided to change him because it was taking care of him and rest him because of the issues. He decided to play because he was feeling strong to help the team.”

John McGinn scored the opener with further strikes from Watkins, Leon Bailey and Youri Tielemans putting Villa, who entered the match on a run of one win in five matches, in complete control.

Alex Moreno added a fifth early in the second half and the only disappointment from Villa’s perspective was they did not score more.

Watkins has now matched his previous best Villa tally for a season of 16 goals in all competitions, including 11 in the league.

Ollie is really a player with high commitment with the club, high commitment with the work. “He’s completely focused on football and Villa, his wish is to win and improve and that’s a very good example for everyone,” said Emery.

“Even when we analysed the Everton match he had four very good opportunities to score and he was not clinical.”