Emery hails 'fantastic' day

Unai Emery hailed a “fantastic” day for his Aston Villa team after they overcame Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.

The hosts sprung out of the blocks and were in front after just six minutes as they took a lead into half-time.

City equalised but Nicolas Jackson was on target for a second time to earn a first home victory in the top flight of 2026-27.  

“A fantastic day to share with our supporters in Villa Park,” he said.

“We felt that this is our fortress, and the energy the supporters gave us was really fantastic. We played thinking about how we can get better, test ourselves against Manchester City after we were not winning at home in the Premier League.

“Today was a really fantastic day. We changed the day to day from the days we were not winning against Arsenal, Nottingham and Brentford, but today we must feel happy and enjoy the weekend.

“We are going to rest because we focused on this match and Champions League strongly, working hard. This is the way and the standard we want to set in our ambition.

“Today we’re happy with three points against Manchester City, testing with them and the level they have. This is one of the best teams in the Premier League and in Europe and in the world.

“We want to be in this level, facing teams like Manchester City. It’s a very good example of how the players responded: this is the attitude, the way, the hard work.

“Thank you to the supporters, to everyone here for sharing in this moment in Villa Park. Let’s go for the next challenge on Wednesday in Bournemouth and Fulham here next Saturday.”

Villa are growing quickly into the season and have now put together a seven-game unbeaten run, winning the last four.

That confidence was on show as they reacted to City’s equaliser by grabbing a winner.

Emery said: “We responded very well and kept calm after their goal.

“We continued in our game plan, scoring the goal we scored. It was fantastic because we were feeling good.

“Everything today was positive.”