After Aston Villa thrashed West Ham 4-1 on Sunday to cut the gap between them and the top of the Premier League to two points, Unai Emery pushed his team to pursue their goals this year.

Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey also had goals as Villa earned its 11th straight at-home Premier League victory thanks to two goals from Douglas Luiz. Only Manchester City and Arsenal earned more Premier League points in 2023 than Villa, which has improved dramatically in the little more than a year since Emery took over as manager.

With a win, Villa moves up to fifth place in the standings, still close to City's lead.

Emery is keen on at least obtaining European football for a second straight season, while captain John McGinn has expressed want to compete in the Champions League.

"One of our dreams is to be with the top seven teams and to do something in Europe," said Emery, whose side are in the Europa Conference League this season.

"To get European football is very important and that is the work we need to try to do. We need to be consistent in what we are doing."

Luiz is just one of a number of players that are performing at a different level under the Spaniard and continued his scoring streak at Villa Park.