{"id":442432,"date":"2026-05-10T23:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T23:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/442432\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T23:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T23:56:11","slug":"unai-emery-sends-message-to-liverpool-after-aston-villa-drops-points-in-top-five-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/442432\/","title":{"rendered":"Unai Emery sends message to Liverpool after Aston Villa drops points in top-five race"},"content":{"rendered":"

After disappointing Premier League results this weekend, both Villa and Liverpool’s attentions turn to a Friday-night clash at Villa Park, where a win foe either would secure a Champions League place\"Unai<\/p>\n

Unai Emery said he is ‘so motivated’ to face Liverpool despite Aston Villa’s imminent Europa League final<\/p>\n

Unai Emery has said he is \u201cso motivated\u201d for Friday\u2019s game against Liverpool, despite the looming prospect of Aston Villa\u2019s Europa League final.<\/p>\n

The Reds\u2019 trip to Villa Park has been rearranged in order to provide the West Midlands side with extra recovery time before its mammoth showdown with Freiburg in Istanbul. Liverpool will now face Villa on Friday<\/a>, five days before the final.<\/p>\n

The two clubs have been vying for a Champions League<\/a> spot all season, and are tied on 59 points heading into the final two rounds of Premier League fixtures. A win for either on Friday would secure a top-five finish after both teams drew against Chelsea and Burnley respectively this weekend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Aston Villa fixtures and Europa League final date could give Liverpool major advantage<\/a>READ MORE: Liverpool’s final fixtures compared to Aston Villa and Bournemouth and how many points needed<\/a><\/p>\n

And although the focus of many Villa<\/a> fans is on the Freiburg clash and the opportunity to end a 30-year wait for silverware, Emery has not downplayed the significance of Liverpool meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo happy, because to be in the final in the Europa League is something amazing, and to share with the Premier League \u2013 to be in the top five like we are now, is very fantastic,\u201d he told VillaTV<\/a> after Sunday\u2019s 2-2 draw against Burnley.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can see other teams\u2019 examples; it is not easy to compete, performing in Europe and to compete performing in the Premier League in both.<\/p>\n

\"Liverpool<\/p>\n

Liverpool and Villa are battling it out for Champions League qualification(Image: (Photo by Daniel Chesterton\/Offside\/Offside via Getty Images))<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are doing [it] in the Europa League, but at the same time, we are competing again to be in the Champions League next year \u2014 hopefully through the league or hopefully through the Europa League.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so motivated, so excited for the match on Friday against Liverpool.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to test against them as well in Villa Park, which team is, in this moment, better than the other in the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the same points. Of course, it\u2019s Liverpool and it\u2019s going to be very difficult, and it\u2019s a huge challenge, and then prepare [for] the final against Freiburg in 10 days.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

Aston Villa reached the Europa League final after beating Nottingham Forest over two legs in the semi-final(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery supporter of Aston Villa and follower of Aston Villa should be so proud of everything we are doing, and we should be so excited and motivated to try to face the last days, the last weeks, the last matches of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Villa allowed a second-half lead to slip at Turf Moor, with Zian Flemming netting an equalizer in the 58th minute.<\/p>\n

That result, in conjunction with Liverpool\u2019s disappointing draw against Chelsea, means Bournemouth remains four points behind the Villa and the Reds, while Brighton trails them by six points with two matches of the season remaining.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After disappointing Premier League results this weekend, both Villa and Liverpool’s attentions turn to a Friday-night clash at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[91986,61,60,1547,112],"class_list":["post-442432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-aston-villa-fc","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-liverpool-fc","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}