Aston Villa boss Unai Emery believes Marcus Rashford is “progressively getting better” in all aspects of his game following his first Premier League goal for the club.
The on-loan Manchester United forward set Villa on course for a comprehensive 3-0 win over fellow European hopefuls Brighton with a 51st-minute finish at the Amex Stadium.
Rashford’s milestone strike came three days after he claimed a brace in Sunday’s 3-0 FA Cup quarter-final success away to Preston.
“The most important thing is how he’s feeling,” Emery said of Rashford.
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AS Monaco are in something of a crisis heading into Tuesday night’s Champions League clash against Aston Villa. Despite being in the respectable position of fourth in Ligue 1, Adi Hutter’s side have only won one of their last eight matches in all competitions and that victory came against lower league side Union Saint-Jean in the French Cup. Excluding that routine 4-1 win, Monaco have only claimed victory in one of their last 10. Powered by Their young side hasn’t fully recovered from their last defeat to Benfica at home matchweek five of the Champions League league phase. They were winning 2-1 until goals from Arthur Cabral and then Zeki Amdouni turned the game around in the final stages. READ | Why Ollie Watkins ‘got a bit frustrated’ as striker closes in on Aston Villa history READ | Aston Villa’s dream transfer window as five sign and seven leave in January Then, following a defeat at Marseille and a win over Toulouse in the league, Monaco lost 3-0 at Arsenal in matchweek six. It leaves them 16th in the league phase table, but only three points behind Villa in fifth place. After that loss at the Emirates Stadium, Monaco played out a 0-0 draw with Reims before they suffered defeats to Paris Saint-Germain in the league and cup either side of beating Union Saint-Jean. Failure to beat Nantes and then being knocked out of the French Cup via penalties against Reims meant Monaco’s trip to Montpellier was a ‘must win’ to get them back on track. “I think this is the right match to motivate the whole team just before the Champions League,” Mohamed Salisu said before the game. “It is a very important match to get an energy boost and regain confidence in order to best prepare for the match against Aston Villa. We believe in ourselves and we want to take the three points. “We have no doubts, football is about ups and downs depending on the period. We are currently in a bad moment and we have to fight to get back to the top. The season had started very well and we were in good form, we just need to believe in what we are doing on the pitch and listen to the coach’s tactical advice to get back to our level.” But Monaco fell to a shock 2-1 defeat against Jean-Louis Gasset’s Montepellier and Hutter claimed the important match with Villa wasn’t in the minds of his players. Powered by “Today, it’s more than a big disappointment, it’s a real gut punch for us and everyone at the club,” Hutter said after full-time. “At the start of the season, the wins were stacking up, everyone was happy. I have been in professional football for 35 years as a player before and as a coach now. It is not the first time this has happened to me and the main thing I have learned is to stay positive, work on the details and help the team.” Asked if he thought that the Champions League match against Villa could have affected the team’s mentality, Hutter responded: “I don’t think so, I have the feeling that the team was completely focused on this match. You could see that in the first half, we wanted to make the difference quickly but we missed too many chances. In the second half, we wanted to score the second goal but we made an individual error. We then had no right to concede another goal. “We tried to come back after with several chances in the last minutes but it was too little. I have a lot of respect for Montpellier but we needed to impose ourselves to regain confidence. Tuesday will be a completely different match, it’s the Champions League at home, but I don’t think the team already had Aston Villa in mind.” What is your Monaco vs Villa score prediction? Tell us here READ NEXT: Louie Barry makes transfer decision as Aston Villa told he’s ‘ready’ to accept deal Aston Villa transfer news with latest on Garcia and Bade as trio could leave I visited huge new Midland charity shop and wished the previous store never shut down Marks & Spencer has £29.50 ‘best alternative’ to Levi’s that’s £80 cheaper Aston Villa favourite could join Premier League rivals Man City ‘on loan’ Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.
January 20, 2025
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“How he’s recovering confidence himself playing football, being focused only on football, being with his team-mates comfortable as well, identifying and understanding our style, our demands.
“Everything with him is progressively getting better.”
England international Rashford raced clear to scuff beyond home goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen after Villa countered from a Brighton corner.
Substitutes Marco Asensio and Donyell Malen sealed victory on the south coast as the visitors leapfrogged the Seagulls into seventh spot by extending their winning run to six games in all competitions.
Emery refused to be drawn on whether 27-year-old Rashford will remain at Villa Park next season and suggested it will depend on whether his side qualify for Europe – and which competition.
“It’s not time to speak about it now,” said Emery, who is preparing to begin a two-legged Champions League quarter-final against Paris St Germain next week ahead of an FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace.
“It’s not the same decision for different reasons. (It depends if) we are in the Champions League, we are in the Europa League, we are in the Conference League, (or) we are not (in Europe).
“Of course he’s performing well. He’s here because he wanted to come here with us, to try to feel confidence, comfortable, to play football, and as well trying to help us.
“We signed him because we were thinking about how much he can help us.
“At this moment in front we have different competitions, it’s the only way we can set an objective for him and for us.
“Hopefully at the end of the season we can get the best for him and the best for us.”
Brighton hit a post through Yasin Ayari’s first-half free-kick and were later denied an equaliser when Simon Adingra’s close-range effort was disallowed following VAR intervention due to an adjudged handball by Kaoru Mitoma.
Frustrated Seagulls fans greeted the full-time whistle with jeers.
Albion boss Fabian Hurzeler said: “I don’t know for who the boos were for.
“We tried everything on the pitch, that’s what we always try to do.
“The fans, I don’t know to who they reacted but we have to do it the next time better so they don’t boo any more.
“The first goal changed the momentum of the game, for sure. Games like this the first goal can make the difference.
“If we shot the first goal, we might sit here with a different outcome.”
