Unai Emery delighted at key aspect in Aston Villa win

The 3-2 victory moved Emery’s men level on points with Premier League leaders Liverpool but they were made to work all the way for it by the impressive Clarets, who twice came from behind to level despite seeing Sander Berge sent-off.

Douglas Luiz eventually struck the winner with an 89th minute penalty after Aaron Ramsey, who joined Villa from Burnley for £14million last summer, brought down Jhon Duran.

Victory snapped a two-match winless run for Villa and Emery said: “The satisfaction is high because we finished the year at home and got the points.

“We were focused for 90 minutes in case the difficulties were coming and we reacted very well.

“In the first half, in the second half, when we needed to be patient and continuing our gameplan.

“Emotionally, we kept our mentality.”

Villa led 2-1 at the break after Leon Bailey and Moussa Diaby scored either side of Zeki Amdouni’s equaliser.

Berge was then dismissed for a second bookable offence with Villa paying the price for missing a series of chances when Lyle Foster sprang the offside trap to score.

But Luiz just kept his cool to fire his spot-kick off the underside of the bar to earn Villa a 16th win in 17 league matches.

The penalty decision looked harsh on Ramsey, who came through Villa’s academy with older brother Jacob.

Burnley boss Vincent Kompany arrived for his post-match press conference more than an hour after the final whistle, joking he had needed an “ice bath” to cool down.

The Belgian was frustrated by a number of decisions against his team, describing both of Berge’s bookings as “soft” and the penalty as “very soft”.

He also believed Villa defender Diego Carlos was fortunate to escape sanction for handball as Foster threatened to run through on goals.

Asked for his view on the penalty decision, Emery replied: “I didn’t watch but always respect the decision of the referees, whether it is for against us.

“I was believing in our shooter. Before he took two corners very badly and I was thinking, now you have to correct that.”

“We were respecting because they won at Fulham, drew against Brighton and we knew before the match we needed to be focused.”