'Demanding' - Unai Emery on Nicolas Jackson after Aston Villa brace

Unai Emery says Nicolas Jackson’s “demanding” approach towards his own game has been critical behind his goal scoring form for Aston Villa.

Jackson scored both goals during the Villans’ 2-1 victory over Manchester City on Saturday to extend his season tally to seven across all competitions.

The 25-year-old has netted six goals in as many games and has proven a shrewd signing since reuniting with Emery, who he previously worked with at Villarreal.

Four years have elapsed since the pair were in Spain together, but Emery has found a way of unlocking his potential on the Premier League stage in the wake of his challenges at Chelsea.

When asked what is different about Jackson now from his days at Villarreal, the Villa boss said: “Maturity, experience and confidence. He’s very demanding of himself to improve things.

“Today, he has scored two goals and he has been scoring goals in the last matches, but it was difficult for him to adapt at the beginning of the season.

“He was shooting a lot of balls over the crossbar. Now, he’s getting better when he shoots.

“As well, he is also working fantastic tactically. He understands where we need him, sometimes he can drop because he is good at dropping as well.

“But we need him running in behind more because we need more runners on the pitch. One of the runners is normally the striker and he has his quality and power.

“His speed is fantastic and his capacity to defend man-to-man, or to attack play and pass to others.”