Aston Villa boss Unai Emery urged perspective after his side missed the chance to return to second in the Premier League following a 1-0 defeat to Everton.
Villa could have moved above Manchester City and cut Arsenal’s lead to four points. Instead, their 11-game winning streak at Villa Park ended after Thierno Barry’s second-half goal.
The loss highlighted that Villa may not yet be serious title contenders. A fragile squad and lack of depth suggest reinforcements are needed if they want to stay in the race.
That reality shaped Emery’s message.
“We are having a fantastic season,” he said. “When we played Everton in September, we drew, and we were worse than now.
“Of course, today we lost a great opportunity. But we are ahead of other teams competing for our position.
“We lost the chance to go second in the league — something fantastic.
“Now we feel frustration, but we must recover our positive way. Football is to win, lose or draw. When you lose, you are sad. When you win, you are happy. Mostly, we have had more happy times than sad ones.
“We are frustrated and disappointed, but everything we did before still counts.
“Our target is to be our best across 38 matches. Until matchday 34, I won’t speak about where we can finish.”
Everton became the first team to win at Villa Park since August. They now sit just four points behind fourth-placed Liverpool and remain in the hunt for European qualification.
David Moyes admitted to relief after his side had a goal controversially ruled out in the first half. Officials judged Harrison Armstrong to be interfering from an offside position after Jake O’Brien’s header.
“I couldn’t get a closer angle,” Moyes said. “I think he’s offside, but I don’t know if that’s enough to interfere. That’s how it is nowadays.
“I don’t know if the ball was ever going to reach Harrison. We’ve had very few decisions go our way recently. People hit each other, pull hair, and nothing happens. A lot is going against us, and that was another one today.”
On the performance, he added: “It was brilliant. With the players we had missing, this was a huge challenge.
“It was a big day for two or three players who really stepped up.”
