Unai Emery has rejected rumours Aston Villa might take their foot off the gas in their final league phase fixture against Celtic if they beat Monaco tonight.
The Villa boss has set his side a target of six points from the two matches to ensure they finish in the top eight of the Champions League standings. Hoops fans had hoped Emery would not be as motivated ahead of next week’s eagerly-awaited Battle of Britain clash at Villa Park – but the Premiership champions can see the playoffs with a win over Young Boys on Wednesday.
But the Spaniard believes his side will still need something from that game to lighten their workload going forward. Villa sit on 13 points and their manager said: “I think we need three or four more points to get into the top eight. That’s important because we will play fewer matches. We beat Bayern Munich at home, Leipzig away but we lost to Bruges. That is the Champions League. Tuesday is the key. They are an experienced club in this competition. They can get to 16 points, maybe they could be in the top eight. Seventeen points is what I think teams will need to reach it. With 19 points we are sure we will be there.”
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