Unai Emery makes 'energy' comment after Aston Villa's 5-0 thrashing at Crystal Palace

Unai Emery admits Aston Villa's 5-0 defeat at Crystal Palace is a "disappointing result", but insists it was always going to be difficult facing an in-form side once the club had already achieved Champions League qualification earlier in the week.

Jean-Philippe Mateta completed a hat-trick in the second half after putting the hosts two-up before the break. Eberechi Eze scored two goals, beating Robin Olsen from the edge of the box twice.

Villa secured a top four finish last Tuesday after Tottenham lost at home to eventual Premier League champions Manchester City. Emery was also without a number of players to face Palace including Emi Martinez, Leon Bailey, Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers, Nicolo Zaniolo and Matty Cash.

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"It’s not a good result," Emery admitted in his post-match press conference. "They showed us their power and how they have played recently here [Selhurst Park]. We tried to keep consistent in our way, trying to be competitive in 90 minutes.

"More or less in the first half we were creating chances. We had chances to score and equalise but in the second half we lost our energy. After we achieved our strong objective that we were planning since August, it was very difficult today. It is a disappointing result. Today we didn’t feel strong in the field.

"We have to accept it. We achieved our objective, but it is important to keep being consistent.

"I can’t tell nothing [negative] about the players or our work. Sometimes, like when you have circumstances like today, you have to accept it."

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