Emi Martinez: Aston Villa goalkeeper puts them closer to Europa League glory under Unai Emery

Emery became the fastest Villa manager to reach 100 wins with victory in France last week.

Villa Park celebrated the success with fans holding ‘Emery 100’ cards as the teams walked out.

He knows how to get the job done and the end of the drought is in sight as Villa look for their first trophy in three decades.

Villa did what was necessary against Lille, although their performance still lacked the style, pace and quality it has produced this season.

These levels remain after their stumbles in the Premier League; With just two wins from 10 games, this has raised the stakes for what seemed unlikely at the start of the year.

Villa, who were overhauled by Manchester United and host West Ham on Sunday, are lucky to still be in the top five given the failures of Liverpool and Chelsea.

But Emery continues to rightly demand an assessment of where they will be after 38 games and at the end of the season.

He was asked last month whether he was in the title race and on Wednesday he stated that a top-four finish in Europe was just a dream for the club when he took over three-and-a-half years ago.

The former Arsenal and Paris St-Germain boss said in his first press conference that he came to Birmingham to win trophies and Villa are getting closer to that goal.

Emery reached the Europa League quarter-finals for the eighth time, a feat no other manager has done more than five times; Villa, on the other hand, have reached the quarter-finals of a major European tournament in three consecutive seasons.

“Villa [were] very professional, nothing spectacular, just doing enough to get to the next round,” said Dublin.

“That’s what they need, but they will have to improve their performance if they want to progress to the later stages of the competition.

“I think there will be more coming from them. If they do this, they might really surprise a few people.”