Aston Villa believing in Champions League for next season

A stunning season.

Transcript

00:00 Charlie, looking at Aston Villa and Unai Emery finally admitting that the Champions League

00:06 race is on. I mean, a few results have gone their way recently. They had that massive

00:10 loss at home to Spurs, which you may have thought Spurs would have been creeping in,

00:14 but they've been brilliant ever since. You know, this is finally a big step in the season

00:21 and the manager has come out and said this.

00:24 He's been denying it all year, Unai Emery. We've been trying so hard in the press conferences

00:28 just to get him to say they're Champions League contenders. But he wouldn't even admit they

00:31 were European contenders, which was nuts to us. And even at Christmas time when they were

00:37 kind of in the fight with Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool at the top, at that point he

00:41 wasn't even saying they were European contenders. And he'd list the likes of Chelsea as higher

00:47 contenders, even though they're about 15, 20 points adrift. So for him to actually say

00:51 that they're Champions League contenders, let alone European, is a big step for him.

00:56 He always said it would be kind of game week 32, 33 that he might start talking about it.

01:01 And he definitely lived up to his word. But who can blame him going away to his old team

01:06 Arsenal, a 2-0 win, whilst they're at the Emirates for that. It was just unbelievable

01:10 the way they played in that second half.

01:11 The first half they rode their luck a little bit. Emi Martinez made some big saves. But

01:16 in that second period Villa were just the better team. And I don't think Arsenal can

01:19 really deny that. Martin Odegaard got quite tired. He went off with a knock. And some

01:23 of the changes that Mikel Arteta made didn't really help them. Villa took advantage and

01:27 two great goals. Leon Bailey's, I know it was a tap in, but the work beforehand was

01:31 good. And then Olly Watkins' finish was just incredible. So very well-deserved win. And

01:35 now three points ahead of Tottenham in the top four race. It's a huge result for them.

01:39 And I think they could well get Champions League.

01:41 Obviously, the likelihood becomes a lot bigger now. What sort of impact does it have on the

01:48 club getting this Champions League? Obviously, it's possible that fifth place could get it

01:53 as well. Do you feel like it's almost there now and they are one of the favourites to

01:58 get the Champions League next season?

02:00 You'd hope so. Having that advantage over Tottenham, having the goal difference advantage,

02:06 just about, it's very close that one. That could really go either way. They're in the

02:10 driving seat. If they just win all of their remaining games, I know it's very much a cliché

02:14 thing, then they're getting it. They have got some tough matches to go, but Tottenham

02:19 have got worse fixtures. Villa's a kind of mid-table fixtures and Chelsea whacked into

02:24 there as well. And Liverpool, actually. But Tottenham's are three of the top six they've

02:30 got to play still. So I think that gives Villa the advantage of it. And as well, Tottenham

02:35 have to really crunch their fixtures in the last few games of the season, which is going

02:38 to be tough for them. In terms of fifth place, Man City and Arsenal being knocked out of

02:42 the Champions League means that the co-efficiency probably isn't going to be good enough, especially

02:47 if Bayern Munich and Dortmund are through and Leverkusen are likely to beat West Ham

02:50 United. So Villa might have to sail their own ship here in Europe if they can get to

02:55 the Conference League final and win that. But at the moment, it looks like you might

02:58 have to finish fourth to get to the Champions League.