Unai Emery fumes at his Aston Villa players for ‘relaxing’ during 1-0 win over Fulham… as he urges stars to remain focused in Champions League race

Unai Emery accused his Aston Villa players of ‘relaxing’ during parts of the 1-0 win over Fulham and demanded greater focus as they try to secure Champions League football again.

Villa’s victory took them level on points with fifth-placed Chelsea, who face Liverpool on Sunday, but Emery was unhappy with areas of their display despite Youri Tielemans’ 12th-minute winner.

Emery and Ezri Konsa had a furious exchange in the second half after the Villa defender gave away possession, leading to a chance on the break for Fulham.

The Villa boss said: ‘We started well, dominating and scoring, but we stopped it a little bit. We started playing more backwards passes and we weren’t progressing as we needed to.

‘We were losing some easy balls. We spoke about how important it is to play focused and serious for 90 minutes. If players are relaxing a little then we are more likely to lose

‘At half-time I told them I can’t accept the way we were managing the match at times. We should be very demanding every day and be consistent, respecting the opponent for 90 minutes. To be consistent for a whole season, you have to be consistent for 90 minutes per match.’

Youri Tielemans’ 12th-minute strike proved to be the difference against the Cottagers

Emery and Ezri Konsa (centre) had a furious exchange in the second half

With the top five qualifying for the Champions League and Chelsea facing fixtures against fellow contenders Newcastle and Nottingham Forest, Villa’s rivals will drop points and if they can win their remaining fixtures against Bournemouth, Tottenham and Manchester United, Emery’s men have a strong chance of achieving their goal – even though he played down their prospects.

‘Today we wanted to be closer to qualifying for European football so it is fantastic,’ Emery added. ‘If we had not won, forget it (Champions League) completely.

‘The best gift we can achieve is the Champions League and we are not the favourites to get it, but we will fight for it. We must now focus on Bournemouth next weekend which is so, so difficult.

‘Villa Park is very important and we feel so strong here. The supporters are fantastic and we can feel that it is our fortress.’

Fulham boss Marco Silva was booked along with four of his players and was unhappy at the way referee Robert Jones handled proceedings.

He said: ‘It was an intense game with both teams making tactical fouls, but only Fulham got the yellow cards, which was difficult to understand.

‘When I was booked, the fourth official said I was too emotional. Perhaps I shouldn’t have spoken so loudly as they take it personally.

‘Every time a Villa player was down injured, they stopped the game. But when that happened to Calvin Bassey in the second half, they didn’t stop it. I asked him why they didn’t stop it. They should be balanced for both sides but the fourth official didn’t like the way I spoke to him.’