Unai Emery insists his Aston Villa rotation policy is for the good of the team as he declares ‘I want to be a small family’ and targets performing across several fronts

  • Unai Emery believes rotating his Aston Villa side is for the good of the team 
  • Villa next host Luton after their Europa Conference League win at AZ Alkmaar 
  • Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s podcast ‘It’s All Kicking Off!’ 

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery insists any rotation policy is for the good of the team.

Villa host Luton in the Premier League on Sunday following Thursday’s 4-1 Europa Conference League win at AZ Alkmaar.

Moussa Diaby, Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres are in contention to return after being on the bench in Holland, despite a goalscoring performance from Youri Tielemans and a rare start for Barcelona loanee Clement Lenglet.

‘This is the reason we have to separate every competition and focus on every match with the idea that we must build a team,’ said Emery.

‘We will need players trying to be ready to play and performing when we are playing in Premier League, when we are playing in Conference League.

Unai Emery has insisted any rotation policy at Aston Villa is for the good of the team

Villa beat AZ Alkmaar in the Europa Conference League last time out and next host Luton

Villa beat AZ Alkmaar in the Europa Conference League last time out and next host Luton

‘It’s not about trying to play different players in different competitions, it’s about trying to be ready with the players and to get performances collectively when we are changing players.

‘I want to be a small family. I want everybody to have feelings with our fans and try to take our heart strongly defending the Aston Villa shirt, Aston Villa’s history and the present.

‘That is the emotion that I want to create and share with our supporters. Then, I want to be very, very demanding and ambitious.

‘To get our ambitions, we are working hard and always improving our capacity, collectively and individually, and building our mentality to compete and win.’

Villa have won their last 11 home league games while Luton arrive after a late 2-2 comeback draw at Nottingham Forest.

‘I respect them a lot. I watched the match against Everton (a 1-0 win) and the draw last week at Nottingham Forest after they were losing 2-0. Their reaction was amazing,’ added Emery.

‘We have to analyse deeply and prepare our game plan, adapting to them and respecting them. Then we have to impose our idea and try find their weakness with our capacity to build our structure offensively.’

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Youri TielemansEuropa Conference League

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