Unai Emery is relishing the prospect of playing Manchester United this weekend as Aston Villa close in on the European places.
Emery was appointed as Steven Gerrard's successor in October and the Spaniard comfortably won his first game in charge against United at Villa Park, overseeing a 3-1 victory thanks to goals from Leon Bailey, Lucas Digne and Jacob Ramsey.
Since that game, Villa have made excellent progress in the Premier League under Emery and they now sit fifth in the table. United welcome Villa to Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon in what promises to be a tricky fixture for Erik ten Hag's side and Emery, speaking on Wednesday night, admitted he was 'very, very excited' to take on the Reds again. ALSO READ: United vs City FA Cup final set for earlier kick-off "I have to be ambitious and realistic and to play under pressure because I like pressure," Emery said when asked about European qualification. "If we’re playing under pressure it means we have something to do.
We are now candidates. "We are fifth but Tottenham play and Liverpool have played one match less than us; Brighton three matches less than us.