Unai Emery 'excited' by what Aston Villa can achieve in the second half of the Premier League season

Unai Emery is “excited” by the challenge of maintaining Aston Villa’s stunning start to the Premier League as he believes the best is yet to come from his side.

Villa welcome Newcastle to Villa Park on Tuesday, live on TNT Sports, aiming to extend their unbeaten run at home in the Premier League that stretches back 17 games to February last year.

Emery’s men sit fourth in the table and could climb to second on Tuesday, depending on how Arsenal fare away to Nottingham Forest in a match also live on TNT Sports.

Villa secured a 0-0 draw away to Chelsea in the FA Cup fourth round on Friday and are among the favourites to win the UEFA Europa Conference League having progressed to the last 16.

Emery turned down interest from Newcastle in late 2021 to stay at Villarreal, but has .

However, the Spaniard believes there is still more to come, especially if Villa can begin to replicate their home form on the road.

“We have to be consistent in our mentality and it is a process,” said the former Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain boss.

“We are building a team and we are still working a lot of things to improve and we have to feel strong in our structure and feel in our commitment strong and everybody ready to play and help, be demanding too.

"The results, scoring goals and conceding less goals, we have to try in the second part of the season to take on a great challenge for us and I am excited. I am excited being demanding and knowing it will be very difficult and this is a message to the supporters, to the players and for everybody."

Emery named a strong side for the stalemate at Stamford Bridge as Villa returned from a two-week winter break, and he is hoping they have ironed out any rustiness ahead of their return to Premier League action.

"We were struggling in the first half,” he added. “It was important to be strong in the dressing room and remind yourself how we won before here and how we are competitive facing matches like tonight we played against a team [Chelsea] who are a contender for this competition.”

Newcastle are desperately in need of the points if they are to have any hope of reeling in Villa to fight for a top-four finish and return to the UEFA Champions League. They currently sit 10th, 14 points away from Villa and the top four.

The Magpies' poor form on the road has been a big reason for their struggles this season.

Howe’s men have the second-worst away record in the Premier League, having won only once when they thrashed Sheffield United 8-0 in September.

Aston Villa host Newcastle United on Tuesday, January 29.

Kick-off is at 20:15 UK time, with live coverage on TNT Sports 1 commencing at 19:30.

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