Striving for comprehensive improvement, Emery hopes that the players will continue to maintain sufficient physical fitness

The 2024/25 FA Cup quarter-finals will see another battle, with Aston Villa heading to Deepdale to challenge Preston North End in the Championship. Emery said he hopes the team can improve in all aspects and urged the players to stay fit during the crucial stage of the season.

In the FA Cup round of 16, Aston Villa relied on Asensio to break the opponent's goal twice and finally defeated Cardiff City 2-0 to successfully advance to the quarterfinals.

Aston Villa manager Emery said at a press conference, “We had a very good rest time. Of course, we continued to train and used this time to focus on improving the performance of other players. However, there are not many players who can participate in the training because most of the players are involved in national team games.”

“We are also using this time to analyse the previous games in depth and try to perform at our best both collectively and individually. From now until the last game of the season, hopefully we can play longer.”

Regarding the team's performance, Emery pointed out that "the key throughout the season is to maintain stability, but the situation will be different in each stage. We are in a new stage, both individually and as a whole, we must maintain a high level of self-discipline and requirements, because the previous performance has not met our expectations and season goals."

"We have conceded a lot of goals this season. Sometimes we have been stable, but it is still not ideal. For example, we have not lost many games at home, only one in the Premier League, but we have drawn too many games. This means that although we have a certain degree of stability, it is not enough because there are more draws than we would like."

In addition, Aston Villa is currently ranked 9th in the Premier League standings with 45 points, 4 points behind 4th-placed Chelsea, so there is still a chance to qualify for the Champions League.

Emery continued, "Now is a critical moment, we need to adjust our condition and face the last few months of the season in the best condition. Our goal is to continue to improve, especially on the defensive end to become stronger, just as we have done before."

“We finished the season strongly two years ago and achieved our goal in the last two games, including a draw away to Liverpool and a home win against Brighton in the last round. But last year we ended the season in a very tired state, with many players injured and low energy, and lost to Crystal Palace in the last game.”

In addition, Emery also emphasized, "My goal and plan for this season is to ensure that the team remains fully fit at the end of the season, and that every player must focus on our goals both individually and as a whole."