Aston Villa manager Unai Emery spoke after his side won 1-0 at Goodison Park in David Moyes’ first game back in charge of Everton
Everton’s goalscoring issues were highlighted as Aston Villa manager Unai Emery celebrated his side keeping their first away clean sheet in the Premier League this season after five consecutive defeats on the road. Ollie Watkins’ 51st-minute strike gave the West Midlands side victory at Goodison Park in David Moyes first game back as Blues boss.
Emery said: “It was very important to win, we have a bad spell in the last matches we played away in the Premier League and we try to be consistent in the table, to get in the top 10 positions and try to be all the season more or less with the possibility to be in Champions League.
“Today the result was top. We played the first half maybe even better than the second.
“In the second half we scored one goal and were competing very well defensively. We deserved to win.”
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The Spaniard added: “I am happy and a clean sheet is very important. The most important thing is to win but we are conceding a lot of goals, more than normal and I don’t know exactly why.
“Maybe we are weak defensively sometimes and through a clean sheet to get three points is the first objective.”
Emery also hailed his match-winner Watkins, who took his tally for the season to nine goals having also bagged a brace in the 3-2 comeback win over Everton in the corresponding fixture at Villa Park back on September 14. He said: “Always we are happy and always he is responding, sometimes not scoring goals but always with his work. He has very good chances but keep going, being consistent.
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“The most important always with the players is the commitment to everything. The strikers have to score and to be close to our attack or assists with other players.
“We are happy because always his work is fantastic, to work for the other players and is good and is good because after this clean sheet we have to try and analyse the game, how we can get strong.”
