Emery looks ahead to Brighton battle

FixturesBrighton and Hove Albion Vs. Aston Villa - Sun, Aug 23 2026, 14:00Unai Emery spoke to the media ahead of Aston Villa’s Premier League season-opening clash away to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday. The Villans travel to the American Express Stadium this weekend looking to make it a successful start to 2026/27, after a fourth-place finish and UEFA Europa League triumph last time out. Emery sat down with the local and national media outlets at his side’s Bodymoor Heath training base on Friday afternoon, to look ahead to the clash. Read they key lines from his pre-match press conference below… On new ambitions...“I have a lot of dreams, still a lot of work to do, so how we are progressing, how we are getting some challenges in different ways, is really fantastic. “And to start the season, the new season, today Arsenal Coventry, and our match on Sunday in Brighton, is something (that) makes us happy, to be here and to have our challenges to compete in Premier League. “The first target, the first objective we have, in my opinion, is the Premier League, and always I am pushing for it. “And how we achieved different positions in the table, four years we are working here together, is being really fantastic. “But, again, moving forward, and a new challenge this year to be there with the contending teams at the beginning of the season, for the top six, top seven positions, to be there with them.” On energy and excitement...“Football is changing a lot. Sometimes less, Sometimes more, but overall, changing a lot. “The only issue (that) is not changing, is the supporters. The supporters from Aston Villa, they are going to be there always, and they are the most important. “Then, we are the professionals – coaches, staff and players, even the owners – and we must be so, so respectful with the supporters. “We must try to show our best as a professional, for me, for the players, as well the owners, their commitment is a huge commitment they have. “I am feeling so, so responsible in everything we are doing, and I know I will need energy, I will need, again, enthusiasm, I will need positivity, and I will need to work, a lot. “Maybe, it’s the year we are changing more than normal, and I am really excited because I think we are doing (an) intelligent (transfer) market. “Of course, we know where we are, and we know what we want to do again for the next year, and this is the priority, and this is the motivation I have.” On Brighton...“Brighton is a team being so, so consistent. They are playing as well, Europe, and it’s a good achievement for them last year they did. “The coach is a young coach, but he has experience in Germany and now here in England. He knows us, and they have, as well, some young players, playing in a good performance. “The four years we played against Brighton with my experience, difficult always, and it’s being our first match away, and we must be ready for everything. “We must be focused 100% and work the match 90 minutes like we were doing the last years, and this is the first target on Sunday: compete, and try to get our best in 90 minutes for those three points.” On departing players...“I am delighted with everything we did together. Some players are leaving – Konsa is close to leaving, and I am happy for him. I am for other players when they are leaving. Why? Because when we arrived here, they were performing up and down, not a lot at a high level, competing for something like we did after it. “They deserve it, because they are players who had a huge commitment and the necessary discipline to work hard and get it. They were always being so, so responsible and so, so respectful of everything. Lucas Digne, Ezri Konsa, Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers, I am so, so grateful. “I learned a lot with those players: how we were setting our standard and they were always there; how we pushed teammates to be consistent, and when we are being successful, the consequences can happen like they happened this summer. They are leaving because they are thinking they must get another challenge in their career. “I am so, so happy and delighted with how they did it. There are other players who are going to continue here with us and the challenges we have. We’ve replaced those players with other players, in a similar situation to when we arrived here. Lucas Digne was coming from Everton, and he was not being in a high level because he was not in his national team and I was not so happy with how he was performing. “After we were setting our standard, he did it. He deserved how he was coming back to Paris Saint-Germain again. Konsa is more or less the same situation; Morgan Rogers, we signed him from the Championship, and his progression was really fantastic, always very disciplined and professional in everything. Youri Tielemans is another very good example. “Now we have other players and we’re going to try and do the same way with them like we did with other players. Now it’s João Gomes, it’s Johan Manzambi, it’s Matteo Ruggeri. We want one centre-back more to replace Konsa, but we have a young centre-back, (Modou Kéba) Cissé, working with us in pre-season. He’s a young player with potential. “This is the way we are trying to work. We are building the team again. The challenge we have is a huge challenge, like every year at the beginning of the season. We can remember how we were at the beginning of last season.” On Villa supporters and patience...“They were patient when we arrived here. They were patient, even (when) we changed a little bit, the style, the idea. “A little bit or a lot, it depends, and we needed to teach the supporters about the new way we were trying to build. “And now, we are going to keep the same idea, same style, the same objectives – ambition, the objective we have – with the new players. “And of course, we must be patient. I don’t know, maybe yes, maybe not, it depends if we are performing well, if we will need time to build the team as strong as possible, and it needs time to get it. “Of course, we must be patient, everybody, but my idea is to compete on Sunday in our best.” Watch Emery's full pre-match press conference via VillaTV now by clicking below...