Unai Emery Admits Aston Villa Were “Clearly” Denied Penalty Against Liverpool

Villa suffered their fourth consecutive defeat across all competitions under Unai Emery on Saturday night

Liverpool v Aston Villa - Premier League - Anfield Aston Villa manager Unai Emery (right) reacts on the touchline during the Premier League match at Anfield / IMAGO / PA Images

Unai Emery believes that Aston Villa were “clearly” denied a penalty against Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday evening.

Goals from Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah secured a 2-0 win for Arne Slot's men, condemning Villa to their fourth straight defeat in all competitions.

The Reds took the lead through Nunez’s opener when, as they prepared to take a free-kick just before the hour mark, Pau Torres went to the ground after being held by Conor Bradley.

Referee David Coote waved away appeals with the incident and subsequently checked and cleared the VAR.

Villa also believed Torres was fouled by Ryan Gravenberch seconds before Mohamed Salah broke down the other end six minutes from time to seal the victory.

Liverpool are now five points clear at the Premier League summit.

Speaking after the game, Emery said of the first penalty claim: “With the VAR, it was clearly a penalty because he pulled the shirt of Pau Torres.

“I know in Europe this is a penalty but here in England, they want to use VAR but I don't know exactly where because in this situation it is clear.

"I always respect the decision of the referee and I respect it but for me, when I watched it with VAR it is a clear penalty.

“And, of course, it was in a very important moment in the game because if we had the opportunity to shoot the penalty, maybe the match would have been different.

'I accept the result and the referee's decision but I don't agree.”

On defeat against the Reds, the former Arsenal manager added: “The result is not good.

"However, we played 90 minutes trying to be competitive, which was the plan we had.

"We conceded to transition, we knew they are strong in transition with the players they have but in 90 minutes how we played, how some players are getting better, I am confident because I think we are in the right way.

“We wanted to get more but we can accept the result because they (Liverpool) are feeling very strong here at home.

"They didn’t really dominate or create a lot of chances to us.

“We created some attacks, but we needed a bit more to get a real chance to score.

'We had one very clear chance with Morgan Rogers at the start of the second half and then we try but they (Liverpool) are one of the best defences in the world.”