Unai Emery sees positives for Aston Villa in 'painful' Arsenal defeat

Unai Emery believes there were positives to be found in Villa’s “painful” defeat to Arsenal.

Bukayo Saka’s goal just before the hour mark condemned his team to defeat in their Premier League home opener.

Villa, who have undergone a major summer rebuild, have no points and are yet to register a shot on target after two matches.

But Emery, while frustrated with the result, saw reasons for optimism in the performance.

“To lose is painful,” he said. “To lose at Villa Park is not normal over the last four years.“But we have some circumstances which are giving us the way to be patient.

“Today how we competed, how we tried to show our capacity with rebuilding the team.

“Being painful, we can feel something positive. We can feel optimistic how we competed today.

“This is the way and the message we want to build with the team.”

Emi Buendia’s shot which hit the bar was the closest Villa came to scoring, yet they also limited Arsenal to few chances across the 90 minutes.

Emery hailed goalkeeper Zion Suzuki and striker Nicolas Jackson for their performances on debut.

“We must be patient,” he said. “But we were patient four years ago, three years ago, two years ago, last year.

“We were patient in the moment when we weren’t feeling strong in everything.

“Now we are in this process. Today, I am happy with how we competed.

“I am not happy with the result because it is painful to lose. But this is the way I want.

“The plan we had for the match, we did. The match was equal and there were moments we were feeling comfortable.”