Unai Emery exclusive: Aston Villa boss on demands and depth in ...

Unai Emery believes Aston Villa's squad depth could prove crucial if his side are to maintain their superb start to the UEFA Champions League this season.

Emery's side have also made a great start in the Premier League, level with Chelsea and Arsenal on 18 points after ten games.

The Spaniard insists that the busier fixture list and increased standards will demand more from his squad in the months ahead.

"It increases our demands, increases our standards, and it means that when we are speaking to the players that aren't in the squad, it is more or less in this direction," Emery told TNT Sports.

"Try to be demanding, try to build a solid structure in the squad with competitive players but not with one player too useful in the starting eleven and the other clearly the second player in this position.

"I want there to be competition in the squad with two players in each position, more or less being both important and the possibility to play at the level that we want.

"Usually, we are trying to be demanding, signing players with the mentality we want.

"With the process increasing and with us being competitive like we more or less have been here, this is maybe the change that we needed, through the players progressively signing here."

Emery has managed a team in the Champions League, Europa League or Conference League in the last 16 consecutive seasons.

During that period, he has won the Europa League three times with Seville and once with Villareal.

However, the Spaniard admits that qualifying for Europe is harder than ever in an increasingly competitive Premier League.

"The first meeting I had with the owner, I was playing in Europe for 14 years in a row, and now 16 years in a row playing in Europe," he said.

"I told him, to play in Europe is my first objective, because Europe always gave me a lot. As a coach, I like to play in Europe.

"In the Premier League, it is more difficult because there are a lot of teams that have to be there, but it was my challenge.

"To get this challenge and to keep being consistent has been demanding on our players as well."

Belgian midfielder Amadou Onana scored in Villa's first game of their Champions League campaign, a 3-0 win against Young Boys.

He revealed that he has targeted being more aggressive in the opposition box this season.

"I think I am big on self-expression," he told TNT Sports. "I need to be happy outside of the pitch in order to perform, and as you can see, I am very happy at the minute.

"It [adding goals to his game] was a big thing for me. Going into the season I was like, I need to be more aggressive in the opponent's box and add that to my game.

"Happy with how it is going so far, it has been a while since I have been on the scoresheet though.

"I will have to get back there."

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