Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner has praised one ‘outstanding’ Aston Villa man ahead of Sunday’s clash.
A fairytale campaign for Aston Villa ended with Champions League qualification on Tuesday night as Manchester City secured a 2-0 victory over Tottenham.
Unai Emery’s men were rewarded with the success they deserved after finding themselves in the mix for most of the season.
The Villans now travel to Crystal Palace for their final game hoping to break numerous records, including the most points amassed in London in a single campaign.
Villa’s charge towards the top four was led by the irrepressible Ollie Watkins, who has the joint most assists in Europe’s top five leagues, while the improvement of Leon Bailey under Emery has been nothing short of sensational.
With the likes of Douglas Luiz pulling the strings in midfield and Pau Torres marshalling the defence, Emery has created a core that was pivotal to their success and the Spaniard deserves all the plaudits.
Oliver Glasner praises ‘outstanding’ Unai Emery
Oliver Glasner replaced Roy Hodgson in the Palace dugout in February as the Eagles kickstarted a new era.
The Austrian tactician only claimed one win from his first seven matches in charge but they’ve since torn the league apart with five wins in his last six, including successes over Liverpool and Manchester United.
Glasner has brought a pragmatic and fluid attacking style to the top flight and Palace have been a joy to watch. Ahead of Aston Villa’s visit, the 49-year-old has waxed lyrical about the job Emery has done at Villa Park, claiming he’s an ‘outstanding’ manager.
Speaking to Crystal Palace official, he said: “When you see how the team is playing, you clearly see how they want to play, what they want to do in possession, what they want to do out of possession, how quick they are in transition with their players in offence…
“There is a clear structure in their game, over 100 minutes, always. And this is the responsibility of Unai Emery.
It’s not just that he shows it now at Villa, he showed it in all the clubs before. I don’t know how often he won the Europa League, he was in the semi-finals with Villarreal in the Champions League.
“He is a great manager and he does an excellent, outstanding job at Villa.”
Oliver Glasner can take inspiration from Unai Emery
Palace are in scintillating form at the moment and they don’t want the season to end. But just like Emery did at Villa, he must use this momentum as a marker for consistency moving forward.
After joining the club in October 2022, Emery dragged the Villans from the threat of relegation and into seventh position.
Glasner has done a similar job at Selhurst Park, albeit on a smaller scale, having taken Palace from a precarious position – five points clear of the bottom three – to 20 minutes clear of Luton Town with firm eyes on a top-half finish.
If they record three points on Sunday, they can finish as high as 10th in the table, which would be a remarkable achievement from where they were.
Once the season draws to a close, though, perhaps Glasner can use Emery’s achievement as inspiration to take the Eagles into Europe next term.
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