Unai Emery makes 'difficult' Aston Villa admission after Manchester United defeat

Unai Emery admitted that Aston Villa's 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at Villa Park was "tough" to take.

Rasmus Hojlund scored first, but Douglas Luiz equalised just after half-time for the home side. As Villa tried to score again, Scott McTominay came off the bench and scored the winning goal with just four minutes of normal time remaining.

The win leaves United just five points behind Villa in the Premier League table. Speaking after the game, Emery said his players did what he asked on the pitch.

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He told Sky Sports: "We did everything we planned. We controlled the game and we avoided the transitions and we didn't concede a lot of chances.

"We created chances but we couldn't score some clear chances. I am very proud of our work and of the players. We are playing against the mighty Manchester United but we are being more consistent in matches in the league. The result is tough for us and difficult to accept but that is football. We played like we planned and we deserved more.

"We created chances and sometimes we are being clinical and sometimes we aren't, like today. But these are the ideas that we wanted.

"We created through our identity and our style. Sometimes we will be clinical and sometimes we won't be. We wanted to have control of the game and avoid transitions. That was the first idea we had and we did."