EMERY WON’T BEE HOLDING ANY GRUDGES
V
NEIL MOXLEY
UNAI EMERY has told Aston Villa’s players to forget score-settling against Brentford – and fix their sights on the job at hand.
The Villa boss will reacquaint himself with the Bees this afternoon, the memories of a feisty clash in west London still fresh in his memory.
Emery and his backroom staff were upset at the antics of Thomas Frank’s side as they chalked up a 2-1 away win at the Gtech Community Stadium.
There was a string of incidents during the game in the week before Christmas that ended with the two clubs being fined a total of £355,000 between them.
There were 10 yellow cards, two reds – including cautions for the respective managers – in a game dubbed one of the dirtiest in Premier League history.
Trouble flared when Neal Maupay barged into Villa keeper Emi Martinez, setting the tone for an afternoon of friction.
Martinez then yanked Brentford’s striker up from the ground as he lay injured (right), sparking a melee that ended with Boubacar Kamara’s red card (top) for grabbing Yegor Yarmolyuk around the throat.
England striker – and former Bees star Ollie Watkins – then traded verbals with a fan who, it emerged afterwards, had allegedly abused his family.
Ben Mee was also sent off for a studs-up challenge on Leon Bailey.
The two clubs were asked to explain their actions afterwards by the FA and subsequently landed a six-figure punishment.
Emery (left) said: “They are different circumstances. Of course, the same players will be there, the coach as well.
“It’s four months since we played there. We want to think about our game plan, they are a very competitive team.
“And football is a lot of things that you have to manage.
“The control of your emotions. We have to control our power-playing, focusing tactically offensively and defensively.
“But if we are faced with duels, we’ll do that but we are going to play football.
“Nothing more. I’m going to respect them. The message to the players is focus on the game plan, try to impose ourselves and dominate the match.
“We need to forget it. Get ready and focus completely on our game plan.”
Emery has had to call Jacob Ramsey’s season to a premature end. The midfielder has ended his bid to regain fitness and will play no further part in Villa’s battle on two fronts.
During last year’s Euros, the former England Under-21 international initially picked up the problem while on duty with Lee Carsley’s side.
He got back to full fitness but then suffered another broken metatarsal upon his return. Ramsey has since returned to action but has been unable to string together a run of games.
Emery added: “Jacob has a toe problem and will be out for the rest of the season.
“We will decide with the doctors what his process will be. The most important thing now is for him to recover as soon as possible.”