LONDON: Aston Villa are ninth in the Premier League standings but manager Unai Emery does not want to press the panic button yet as the Spaniard urged his side to be patient yesterday as they seek to snap their losing run.
Villa, who have 18 points from 11 games, suffered four consecutive losses across all competitions before the international break but Emery said the side are on the right track and the players must be patient.
"We have 38 matches in the Premier League. Sometimes we can have good results, sometimes not, but we have to accept it," Emery told reporters ahead of today's home clash against Crystal Palace.
"When we were finishing before the break with good results, we were happy. The latest one we finished with some bad results and we weren't happy. Sometimes we have to manage our frustrations and keep balance in how we are in our process.
"This is the reason we try to keep calm, try to rest the players after their matches with the national team. We are focusing on the match tomorrow because those are very important three points."
Villa are also dealing with injury concerns with Ezri Konsa, Amadou Onana, Jacob Ramsey and Boubacar Kamara all unavailable for the game.
Emery said Konsa and Onana are sidelined due to small injuries while Ramsey and Kamara are still nursing knocks sustained in a 2-0 defeat by Liverpool before the international break.
"We are adding other players after small injuries, like (Matty) Cash and Ross Barkley in the squad for tomorrow (today)," Emery said.
"We are going to try and feel confident with the players we have in the squad, and we are working with every player trying to be ready when the opportunity to play is coming for them."
Palace are 18th and struggling to get out of the relegation zone but Emery said the London side were better than their position suggested after they beat Villa in the League Cup last month.
"We can analyse them playing against us three weeks ago when they beat us here and last season they were fantastic in the last four months of the season," Emery said.
"They are playing in the same idea and style, but they've had some injuries... They are playing the same as last year when they were successful. They deserve more points than they have now."