Aston Villa boss Unai Emery reveals key to victory over Leeds as Villans climb Premier League table
- Seb Sternik
- 14 January 2023
Unai Emery was full of praise for his players after they put on a much improved second-half display in a hard-fought 2-1 win over Leeds.
Leon Bailey's early breakthrough and Emi Buendia's second-half header helped the Villans to victory against a wasteful Leeds outfit.
While the visitors failed to make their opportunities count, Villa proved far more clinical as they sealed their seventh win of the campaign.
"It was a tough match but the performance was different in the first and second half. In the second half we controlled it better with good positioning and keeping possession longer," said boss Unai Emery, with Villa 11th in the Premier League.
"I'm really happy with Leon. In the last match against Wolves he had two chances and he was thinking he had a responsibility to score. We were helping and supporting him to give him confidence.
"In the first half we were a little happy but confused because we weren't playing very well and had less chances than we wanted. They want to get the ball forward and are so direct. We didn't control the first half well.
"We changed something, we tried to keep ball possession longer and that was the key. After it we broke their pressing and had spaces to attack."
Emery has now won four of his six Premier League games in charge of Aston Villa.
The Spaniard, who replaced Steven Gerrard back in November, will be looking to continue the team's momentum when they take on strugglers Southampton next weekend.
