Aston Villa manager Unai Emery wants his side to forget Sunday’s 4-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur and focus on Thursday’s Europa League semi-final with Ajax. Villa scored four goals for Spurs in the second half, two of which came after John McGinn was sent off for a tackle on Destiny Udog.James Maddison opened the scoring five minutes after half-time and Brennan Johnson doubled Spurs’ tally. lead soon after.
McGinn was given his marching orders just after the hour mark and Villa kept Spurs at bay until Son Heung-min and loanee Timo Werner scored twice.Spurs are now just two points behind fourth-placed Villa. in place, but importantly, Emery’s men have a game in hand, which means Champions League qualification is within their grasp. “John McGinn played here and he was strong, handsome, very passionate and he is not a player who does things with bad intentions,” former Arsenal boss Emery said after the match.
I think a red card may be. red. card but no bad intentions.” Emery added: “I didn’t speak to the players much, I just told them ‘keep going, keep going, think about Thursday and Sunday against West Ham United’ and the same with John.”Emery’s counterpart at Spurs Ange Postecoglou. was delighted with his side’s performance at Villa Park. “I was really happy with the whole game,” he said.”Honestly, the way we played all day.” – The first half went well because we made them work harder than anything else. They had to try to contain us and the threats they suppressed.
