Unai Emery reveals Aston Villa's Champions League points target for top eight qualification

Unai Emery believes seven more points should be enough for Aston Villa to secure a place in the top eight of the Champions League league phase table.

They take on Club Brugge at the Jan Breydel Stadium on Wednesday night (5:45pm kick-off) looking to retain their 100 per cent start in the competition having beaten BSC Young Boys, Bayern Munich and Bologna. Currently top of the league phase table, Emery knows a win over Brugge would put his side in a brilliant position to go on to automatically qualify for the round of 16.

"We are building the team, creating it with new players and some players are also coming back after injury, but the most important thing is to be competitive and get as many points as we can," Emery said in his pre-match press conference.

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"The main objective is to build a team. I’m building a team like I did strongly last year. We’re being consistent, but not like I think we have to be. It’s difficult to get for the next month being a contender to get our objective in different competitions."

Asked if the next month will be decisive in Villa's season, Emery responded: "We are demanding and increasing our standards. We want to be consistent on the field. We are not favourite or contenders like other top seven teams in the Premier League and here in Europe there are other favourites to finish ahead of us.

'We’re being competitive from when I arrived here until today more or less in the high level. In the Premier League we’re having to be in the top five until I started here two years ago with the club. The average is that we are in the top five.

"To keep that is the most important thing to keep it and create with the players. We need to build a strong structure in the club and with our players. The mentality, tactically as well we have to work more than other teams.

"Maybe other teams have different ways to be favourites ahead of us. We want to be a fighter team, working hard and mentally and tactically, even emotionally, trying to be more intelligent than some teams."

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