Leon Bailey insists Aston Villa must remain humble and not look too far ahead as Unai Emery’s side see in the New Year joint-top of the Premier League table after beating Burnley 3-2 at Villa Park on Saturday.
The winger opened the scoring for Villa against the Clarets, bagging his ninth goal in all competitions this season. After Burnley twice pegged Villa back, Douglas Luiz stepped up late on to convert a penalty which secured the club’s 13th league win of the campaign.
The win over Burnley was Villa’s first victory in three having failed to beat Sheffield United at home before then surrendering a two-goal lead at Old Trafford on Boxing Day. But Bailey claims he and his teammates are feeling no pressure after what has been a remarkable first half of the season.
“It’s a great way to go into the New Year, be positive, and most importantly, just remain humble,” Bailey said. “I wouldn’t say it’s pressure – not at all. We’re always focusing on one thing at a time.
“We aren’t trying to listen to the outside noise. We’re just going to focus on one game at a time. But we have to stay humble. That’s the most important thing, we have to keep our feet on the ground and never look too far ahead.
“This is the Premier League and every game is difficult, it doesn’t matter who you play. But for us tonight was good to be able to get the three points – that was the most important thing and something to build on and a great way to go into the new year and just be grateful.
“Sometimes you can have 20 chances and only score one or two. That’s just the game. But we just never kept our heads down, we continue going because we’re at home, we need to build on what we’ve been doing already. And this was the opportunity that we all knew that we couldn’t let up again and we gave it our all and in the end we got the three points.
“We have to keep on going especially if they’re down to ten players. So we have to keep that in consideration as well so that we can really push on and bea little bit more risky. And I think we did that in the end and it paid off.”
Emery gave his players three days off after the win over Burnley and ahead of the FA Cup tie against Middlesbrough on Saturday given the demands placed on them in recent weeks. Villa have played ten games in all competitions in the last five weeks and Bailey admitted it was important to respond to the defeat against Manchester United.
“It was a tough one but for us we had to recover from that quickly because the games come very fast,” Bailey admitted. “We’re just grateful to get the three points today. I’m used to a lot of games.
“I’ve always been playing in both competitions in Europe and normal football. So I’m used to playing the games every three days. But it’s very tough on your body. But this is what we’re in the game to do.
“The game has been coming every three days and it’s really important that we can get some time off now to rest and recover and come back stronger in the new year. It’s going to be nice to get a few days off and relax with family and friends.
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