Unai Emery lays down Aston Villa challenge after Boubacar Kamara red card
Unai Emery believes the chance has come for other players to step up at Villa with Boubacar Kamara now facing a three-match ban.
The midfielder will miss the festive matches against Sheffield United, Manchester United and Burnley after his sending off for violent conduct in yesterdays’s 2-1 match at Brentford.
Kamara’s dismissal blotted another generally excellent day for Emery’s team, who fought from behind to take points for the third successive away match to move within a point of the Premier League summit.
They did it without the suspended pair of Douglas Luiz and Lucas Digne, while Youri Tielemans also missed out through injury, with Leon Bailey coming off the bench to again make a major impact.
But with Kamara now out and Pau Torres also going off late with injury, Emery faces shuffling the pack again for Friday’s visit of Sheffield United, where a win would send Villa top of the table.
The boss said: “When injuries are coming and players are suspended, it’s important as well for players to train every day, like Leander Dendoncker for example.
“Douglas Luiz is back for the next match, Tim (Iroegbunam) is being consistent training and I think he can help us. It is the moment for other players.
“Hopefully it’s a small injury for Pau, hopefully. The big problem today is the red card of Kamara. It is the biggest problem for us.”
Ollie Watkins headed the winner as Villa came from a goal down to win for the first time at Brentford since 1953, Alex Moreno having earlier cancelled out Keane Lewis-Potter’s first half opener.
Though the main focus of the post-match discussion was the series of melees which began with home defender Ben Mee’s 71st-minute sending off for a foul on Bailey, Emery was pleased with his team’s overall performance as they claimed a fifth win in six league games.
“We competed very well,” he said. “We didn’t compete like we did in Bournemouth two weeks ago. We were adapting of them and trying to control the game with the circumstances. They played without some key players. It was a very good opportunity for us to play against a team with the same spirit and same intensity.
“Before the match, I knew it was going to be very difficult to win. I think we played respecting them and tried to impose our game plan.”
