'We competed well but it is not enough'published at 22:17 25 February
22:17 25 February
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Unai Emery spoke to TNT Sports Aston Villa's defeat against Crystal Palace: "We were competing well until the first goal we conceded. Good positioning and we were dominating the match. We have one goal [ruled out].
"The first chance they had, they scored. Then they got some transitioning.
"Second half we tried to come back, but then we scored, and we were excited and motivated to try to continue controlling the game with our positioning.
"They scored the second goal, and we lost our positioning on the field, and we conceded transitions, and they scored two more goals.
"It was a tough result. We competed well, but it is not enough - we move on.
"Tried to use different players at different moments. That was the plan."
On Emi Martinez injury: "He was feeling some pain. Even yesterday, he trained well, but before the match he felt better and felt confident to play.
"At half-time he told us he was not feeling good. So we decided to change him."
On other injuries: "We have some players injured, but we will not use this excuse. We have to focus on the Premier League. Now we have two competitions [FA Cup and Champions League] to play."
Can Villa increase their end-of-season chances?published at 12:26 25 February
12:26 25 February
David Michael Fan writer
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The fact that Opta gives Aston Villa a 7% chance of clinching a top-five Premier League spot after the weekend's games suggests just how important their comeback win against Chelsea was. Three straight home draws had seen Villa lose ground on the top spots, making the victory even more crucial.
The relief and celebrations that greeted Marco Asensio's winner certainly acknowledged that Villa's league campaign still had a pulse in terms of qualifying for Europe again. They will know they need to replicate the result when top-half rivals Newcastle and Nottingham Forest visit Villa Park in the coming months.
Upcoming trips to Crystal Palace and Brentford give Villa a realistic chance of improving that Opta percentage, especially with the knowledge that key players like Pau Torres, Boubacar Kamara, Ross Barkley, and Amadou Onana should be back to reinforce the squad by the time they return from the March international break to see out the remainder of the season.
Of course, Villa have the last-16 round of both the FA Cup and Champions League in the next week to distract them, and this is where any potential league resurgence will be truly tested.
Maintaining performance levels in such a short period of time after two very promising displays against Liverpool and Chelsea will be difficult, particularly at Palace. But the next fortnight is key.
Follow-up the Chelsea win with another three points at Selhurst Park, then take care of business against Club Brugge in the Champions League and Cardiff in the FA Cup, and the final two months of the season could offer up real opportunity.
Hopefully, by then, even Opta will acknowledge that Villa's percentage chance of success will be well above 7% across all three fronts.
Sutton's predictions: Crystal Palace v Aston Villapublished at 08:53 25 February
08:53 25 February
It looks like fifth place will get you into the Champions League next season and that is the most interesting race at the top now the title is pretty much done and dusted.
Half of the Premier League will feel they have a chance of making it and Aston Villa are definitely one of those sides in the hunt.
I am not sure Villa will pick up three points here, though.
Crystal Palace don't score many goals at home - just 12 in 13 league games this season - and they don't win that many there either, just two so far in fact.
But at the same time, Villa are not great on the road - they have only won once away in the Premier League since the middle of October.
I don't like to mention it but I was exactly right about Villa beating Chelsea 2-1 at the weekend, and I feel like they are a much easier team to predict than Palace are.
People are getting excited about what Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio will do in Unai Emery's side but I think this is a tough game for Villa, especially with the form Jean-Philippe Mateta is in for Palace.
Crystal Palace v Aston Villa: Did you know?published at 08:09 25 February
08:09 25 February
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Crystal Palace have won five of their past six Premier League home games against Aston Villa and beat them 5-0 at Selhurst Park last season.
The reverse fixture in November finished 2-2 – Villa have beaten the Eagles at least once in the past seven top-flight campaigns in which they have met.
Emery on team news, being defensively stronger and Crystal Palacepublished at 14:22 24 February
14:22 24 February
Katie Stafford BBC Sport journalist
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has been speaking to the media before Tuesday's Premier League game at Crystal Palace (kick-off 19:30 GMT).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
It is too early to say whether Tyrone Mings and Morgan Rogers will be available for Tuesday's game as they will be assessed after Monday's training session.
Pau Torres is "closer" to a return after suffering a broken metatarsal in December and could return to training this week or next.
On having better squad depth now to deal with absences: "Our job is to improve and bring in players who can add something different. Tomorrow is a very good test of how we are improving."
He said his side have not been "defensively strong enough" which has resulted in "conceding a lot of goals" and that has to stop.
In response to qualifying for Europe being their main focus: "It depends tomorrow on how we are responding. The league is progressing and the matches are becoming less, so we have to recover [the points] that we lost. But we are positive and we are more or less trying to be strong again, astute tactically and mentally. We did business in the transfer window and we need time to recover players. Each day and match is a test."
On opponents Palace: "In my past two matches against them they have performed very well. They are perhaps playing even better away from home at the moment. Tactically, it is very difficult to stop them. They are astute and have players coming out on the winning side of duels."
He said he is "excited" to see how his players respond to the quick turnaround of games after a demanding match against Chelsea.
Paul: What a contrast to recent draws and building on the Liverpool game, Villa were much better when playing on the front foot in the second half. I want to see this intensity for the rest of the season even with yet more injuries. Deserved result in the end.
Prit: An absolutely vital win, especially with our rivals for European places dropping points. I still have a lot of concern with our defence, especially with Tyrone Mings still not fully recovered from his knock a few weeks ago, but the Rashford-Asensio axis is really working and is only going to get better. If we only keep Rashford and Asensio for this season, I hope these next few games gives them the necessary confidence and and put them in the shop window. But, if they could stay next season... well you never know where that would take us!
Mark: We didn't play well but Rashford made the difference in the second half. Still a lot to play for. If we could only keep the centre-backs fit.
Mike: Marco Asensio is undeniably playing his way to a permanent transfer. What a signing he'd be. Unai Emery looks like he's got into Marcus Rashford's head already too and we're beginning to see the real player he's always been. Villa should be one of those teams opponents fear for the ability to impose their game plan and find a way to get a result. No visitor to Villa Park should ever be comfortable with a one-goal lead these days.
Chelsea fans
Chris: Another frustrating, pathetic display from Chelsea. So negative, more passes back to the back four than forward. Reece James is wandering around in midfield as a shadow of his former self and Cole Palmer seems disinterested at present. I can't even bother to talk about our goalkeeper situation, having missed another transfer window and not rectified the situation, plus the blatant need for a striker who can score! Destined for a mid-table finish at this rate!
Jerry: The definition of madness is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different outcome.
Chris: Another poor showing with no signs of improvement. No grit and no ability to win ugly. We lack a keeper, a dominant central defender and, above all else, an out-and-out striker. If we don't get a big lead in games, we always look likely, like here, to collapse. A promising start faded into yet another predictable finish.
Dave: We had all week to prepare while Villa had a tough game. Yet, they were better and had more energy in the second half. It's obvious Chelsea are not playing for Enzo Maresca - it's obvious. We are in trouble.
Aston Villa 2-1 Chelsea: Asensio and Rashford make the differencepublished at 20:25 22 February
20:25 22 February
Adam Millington BBC Sport journalist
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Aston Villa were doing everything they could in the final third, but they weren't getting what they required.
Then, Unai Emery brought Marcus Rashford on at half-time and found the key to tipping the balance.
Rashford was introduced with Villa losing 1-0 and they ended up snatching victory, thanks to him twice setting up fellow new recruit Marco Asensio, who scored his first two goals for the club.
It was a promising display from Villa on Saturday, who swiftly composed themselves after early lapses allowed Chelsea to snatch the advantage.
They played some excellent football in the final third, with the vision of Youri Tielemans and John McGinn setting up nice moves. Jacob Ramsey and Morgan Rogers then made good runs to get in behind.
Rashford replaced Rogers and improved on the work which was already being done, with the Manchester United loanee showing a clear sense of drive and desire as he worked tirelessly to help his side to victory.
While there were definite areas of improvement for Villa as a Chelsea goalkeeping mistake gifted them the eventual winner, the work of Asensio and Rashford was a striking positive.
'We progressively got better'published at 20:14 22 February
20:14 22 February
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Aston Villa boss Unai Emery, speaking to Sky Sports: "Of course if we had lost we would be worse [in the table]. Today we started very bad and conceded a goal, second in the duels, were late and slow on the press, not getting the players on the field as we planned.
"Then we progressively got better. Better in the duels, better in the second half overall. In the dressing room before we spoke about being ready for 90 minutes, how we wanted it to go, we wanted the sub players to be ready.
"We played on Wednesday and maybe we were getting tired. Morgan Rogers maybe has a little injury, Tyrone Mings went off, and we needed the subs to have a good impact and they did.
"The last two games we had chances at the end of the match and did not score. Today we had chances at the end and we scored."
On the January signings making an impact: "We had the necessity to improve the squad and to have more players to help with our objectives: trying to be in the top seven or eight and trying to compete in the FA Cup and the Champions League.
"Of course we brought the players in thinking about improving it. Then we have to try and adapt quick, a lot of meetings and getting information on the field."
Aston Villa 2-1 Chelsea: Key statpublished at 19:53 22 February
19:53 22 February
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Aston Villa have won three matches in the Premier League this season after trailing at half-time - their joint-most in a Premier League season after 2007-08.
Villa have now won 18 points from losing positions this season - more than any other team in the Premier League.
Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies
Sutton's predictions: Aston Villa v Chelseapublished at 11:24 22 February
11:24 22 February
Chelsea's form has been pretty rotten recently and their manager, Enzo Maresca, also needs a strong finish to the season.
It doesn't help that Cole Palmer has lost his mojo, on top of their issues at centre-forward and in goal. Maresca really needs to make the Champions League places but nothing is clicking for his side at the moment.
Aston Villa are probably in better shape in terms of their performances, but their results have also not been great with four draws and a defeat in their past five league games.
They were great going forward against Liverpool on Wednesday but just cannot keep clean sheets - although Tyrone Mings' return to the team from injury is big for them at the back.
I had to think a bit about this one but I am going for my old club Villa to beat my old club Chelsea, and Maresca might start to come under a bit of pressure if this poor run carries on much longer.
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