Unai Emery explains why he is 'angry' after Aston Villa's 1-0 defeat at Fulham

The Villa manager cut a frustrated figure throughout the game as he watched his side pass up a big opportunity to take a huge step towards Champions League qualification.

Ryan Sessegnon’s goal late in the first half was all that separated the two sides. He followed in from close range after Emi Martinez saved Sasa Lukic’s header.

The defeat to Fulham means Villa still have work to do to seal a top-five finish, but in Emery’s pre-match press conference, he spoke of his ambition to finish third, not only returning to UEFA’s elite club competition.

Asked why he was angry after full-time, Emery said: “With the result, not with the performance. I am not happy that we lost. Not to do with the performance.

“The match we expected was more or less on the field. Difficult match. The first half they dominated more. We tried to do a high press, but even through it they scored a goal.

“We were then compact and disciplined and through it we had two chances, one for Morgan and one for Watkins. We also had corners.

“We couldn’t dominate like we want because they were getting man to man, like lots of matches we are playing.

“We conceded one goal and we were losing, but the second half changed as we dominated more and we were more in the attacking third. We created two very good chances to score - Watkins and Tammy Abraham.

“Those four chances in 90 minutes, it was something to be clinical in to score a goal, but we were not clinical. We have to continue practising to score a goal with the chances we had.”

He added: “My work is how we can improve things. Today we didn’t work well, in the moment to shoot to score.

“In Nottingham, we had the same chances for Watkins, it was the same. Being responsible myself to practice and correct it."

Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.

Join our Aston Villa WhatsApp group and get the latest breaking news, interviews and opinion sent straight to your phone, plus matchday team news and live updates of all the action. Just click on this link and select ‘Join Community’ to get started. The only proviso is that you must have WhatsApp on your phone to participate. It's a free service. No one will be able to see your personal information and you will only receive messages from our Villa writers.

We will not spam your WhatsApp feed with constant messages, but you will receive updates from us daily with the latest Villa news. If you later decide to opt out, just go to the name at the top of your screen and click 'Exit Group'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. Click here to read our Privacy Notice