PA Media/DPA
London
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery insists his side’s only focus is Thursday’s Conference League quarter-final first leg against Lille and not Sunday’s crunch Premier League clash against Arsenal.
Villa are playing their first European quarter-final in 26 years when the Ligue 1 club visit Villa Park but the prospect of the visit to Emery’s former club three days later is looming.
That game is massive in Villa’s pursuit of a top-four finish and guaranteed Champions League qualification, but Emery was only interested in Thursday night’s game.
Asked whether Sunday’s game would impact his selection against Lille, he replied: “No way.
“We are speaking about the match tomorrow in the Europa Conference League, we are not thinking about the match we are going to play. It is not good for us or for me or everybody.
“I want to focus on the match tomorrow only.” The French Football Federation have cancelled Lille’s weekend game in order to give them the best possible preparation for next week’s second leg.
Emery knows they will come up against a well-drilled side.
“We are having experiences and that is the most important, trying to be competitive and be successful,” he added.
“We are excited and we wanted to have the opportunity we have in front of us.
“In the quarter-final of Conference League it is very important to focus in this way because everything we did before in getting to the quarter-final, trying to enjoy the moment we have.
“They are focusing on this competition and this quarter-final, not playing between the two matches in the French Ligue 1.
“They are fourth in the league and they are focusing. They have good players with experience in Europe. They have a good coach in (Paulo) Fonseca, who I respect. They are a very competitive team and a tactically very good coach.”
Villa defender Pau Torres insists it is still possible to prioritise both a top-four finish in the league and winning the Conference League.
“I think we have a really good squad, really good team with enough players to 100% each game, both competitions,” he said.
“We are working on it, I think this week is a hard week, a tough week, we need to go game-to-game and keep fighting.
“Now for me, both competitions are so, so important. We want to leave with our supporters after 26 years a quarter-final at home and we want to play another game in front of them so it means we will be in a semi-final.
“We are working on it. This month and a half is the most important and we need every player focused on it.” Matty Cash (hamstring) and Clement Lenglet are missing for the tie.
