Unai Emery’s men stayed in the game long enough to seize all three points in comeback fashion, stretching their winning streak to 11 games after a 2-1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
MORE — Chelsea v Aston Villa recap, video highlights
Villa were dominated early and went down 1-0 on a Joao Pedro goal, but came back to take their 16th, 17th, and 18th points from a losing position this season.
Ollie Watkins came off the bench to score both of Villa’s goals, and the visitors kept pace with first-place Arsenal and second-place Manchester City by picking up a Week 18 win.
How did Emery see it?
Unai Emery reaction — Aston Villa boss speaks after comeback win runs winning streak to 11
What did you change at halftime? “We kept the same game plan we had the first half but the first half they were playing fantastic, dominating. We couldn’t recover the ball easy. We were defending low but even defending low we defended well. We didn’t concede corners, only one and they scored. We needed to be patient and try to be resilient. We spoke in the team room. The second half, normally we can improve because they were pushing hard and did a big effort. We knew we could use momentum to control the game better in the second half.”
“We were going to get better but we needed some fresh legs and different players. Every player’s impact was necessary.”
How did Ollie Watkins change the game? “He was so, so focused, keeping the game plan like we planned, doing his task. He’s normally getting his numbers and today, fantastic.”
Can go level with Arsenal on points with a win on Tuesday: “It’s a match against Arsenal and our mentality is to compete strongly. We’re not going to speak of our target in the league until we are in Week 34. They are a huge power to get points like Liverpool, like Chelsea. There are contenders more like us to get there. We are competing fantastic. We will be humble.”
“Still another 20 matches to play.”
