Aston Villa boss Unai Emery hails 'fantastic' victory over Sheffield United

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was delighted with the 5-0 win against Sheffield United over the weekend and labelled his side's performance as 'fantastic'.

The Midlands club breezed past the Blades and were 4-0 up at half-time. John McGinn, Ollie Watkins, Leon Bailey, Youri Tielemens and Alex Moreno were all on the scoresheet at Bramall Lane.

Despite Sheffield United being very poor, the result will still give Aston Villa a lot of confidence heading into their upcoming games. They could have scored more goals in the game in truth but will still be pleased with how they went about their business.

They were desperate to bounce back from their 3-1 home loss to Newcastle United last week.

Speaking afterwards, Emery told the club website: “I’m very happy because we reacted very well after our defeat at home on Tuesday at Villa Park.

“Even when we lost that match we were speaking afterwards about how the way we did at home was fantastic. We lost and it was coming.

“It was very important not to lose the focus, don’t lose our objective and try to be consistent in our way; try to react quickly. Not everything we did was bad against Newcastle, but we had to keep being consistent like we were.

“We had to work, analyse the opponent and impose our game plan, trying to be together. Everybody was focused and ready to play.

“Today our reaction was fantastic and the result was fantastic.”

Aston Villa are now back into the top four after their heavy win over Chris Wilder's side. They are two points above Tottenham Hotspur in 5th and five off current table toppers Arsenal so are still in a strong position after a brilliant opening 23 games of the season.

Next up is an FA Cup replay at home to Chelsea on Wednesday. They then face Manchester United at Villa Park on Sunday.