Newcastle “favourites to be in the top five” - Unai Emery

Back at the end of 2021, when our takeover had just been completed and prospective managers were being lined up, then-Villarreal manager Unai Emery was incredibly close to stepping into the St James’ Park dugout.

Over three seasons later, we have endured a mini rivalry with Emery and his Aston Villa side, but the Spaniard clearly has some respect for the club who almost appointed him all those years ago.

And speaking yesterday, Emery once again reiterated how much he takes this fixture seriously, and believes we are truly one of the favourites to secure UCL football this season.

Emery: Newcastle “favourites to be in the top five”

As part of his Friday morning press conference before Saturday’s game, Emery commented on the strong run of form we’re enjoying, and the difficult obstacle we pose for his Villa side.

“The first step (is) tomorrow. The first three points we will face against favourites to be in the top five, because they are now really performing very well, they are winning a lot of matches in a row, getting a lot of points.”

“They are now in their best moment. They are performing very well, they are winning matches, they are feeling confident, they are feeling so strong.”

“They have five points more than us. It means a lot, how we are, how they are, how important is the match tomorrow.”

“Still 18 points to play (for) in (the) Premier League, and they have five points in advantage.”

Our excellent recent form against Villa

When it comes to Saturday’s opponents, recent history is certainly in our favour.

Since Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall were brought to Tyneside back in November 2021, we’ve played Aston Villa six times, winning five and losing just once.

Aside from maybe the 2023 opening weekend, where we swept aside Emery’s team 5-1, no matchup has quite been so important to both team’s season like Saturday’s game is.

Should we get all three points at Villa Park, we move eight points clear of the Villains to 62 points.

And with a favourable fixture against Ipswich at St James’ Park to follow, we may have one hand on a Champions League spot before April even comes to a close.