Emery rues missed opportunity for Villa after laboured Everton defeat and says ‘we are not top four contenders’

Unai Emery admitted Aston Villa missed an opportunity after failing to gain ground on Arsenal at the top of the Premier League with a 1-0 home defeat to Everton.

Villa failed to capitalised on dropped points by top two Arsenal and Man City, with the defeat courtesy of Thierno Barry’s second-half winner seeing them fail to close the gap behind the Gunners to four points.

It was an underwhelming performance from Emery’s side, who escaped going behind in the first half when Jake O’Brien’s opener was controversially ruled out before mistakes from Pau Torres and Emiliano Martinez led to Everton taking the lead.

Emery told Sky Sports: “Yes, of course [it is a missed opportunity]. We lost a very good opportunity. We did a very good season until now, and today we lost. We will get balance because we are third in the league.

“There is other teams with more potential than us.”

Villa had won their previous 11 games at home in all competitions and had only lost once at Villa Park all season, so Sunday’s result came as something of a surprise.

On whether the defeat shocked him, Emery added: “No. Because they compete very well. We had our chances, we didn’t score and they had less chances, but they scored.

“They [Everton] compete well and after the goal they defended well. Yes, we can avoid the goal, but we didn’t.

“A lot of matches we play like that we win. They competed well, this is Premier League – they’re a very good team and they have a very good coach.”

Emery: We are not top-four contenders

A visibly frustrated Emery was clearly disappointed with his team’s showing, later suggesting that they are still not contenders to finish in the top four, despite still being eight points clear of fifth-placed Manchester United as it stands.

He told BBC Sport: “We created chances, we didn’t score. They had fewer chances than us and scored. They competed fantastically. It’s the Premier League.

“We are not a contender to be in the top four like we are now. They have very good players and are strong tactically.

“They deserved to win. We must analyse the match and keep going.”