Aston Villa boss Unai Emery said that there was no time for celebrations after securing European football for the third-straight year, with the Champions League their objective.

Villa beat Bournemouth 1-0 in their last Premier League fixture to seal a spot in Europe next year, but what competition they are involved in remains to be decided. 

The Villans are sixth in the table ahead of facing Tottenham Hotspur this Friday, level on points with fifth-placed Chelsea, who occupy the final Champions League berth. 

And while Emery was looking forward to another season in Europe, the Spaniard is striving for the club to build on their quarter-final showing in the Champions League this year. 

"No celebration, of course. We have something to celebrate, but we have challenges in front of us. It is not in our hands, but we can push other teams by winning," Emery said.

"Today we got Europe. I appreciate to play in Europe. How we can develop playing in the Premier League and in Europe is fantastic.

"The club and the owners, and everyone at Bodymoor, everyone knows how we can increase our process and achieve the objective.

"This is the challenge I have, to always develop our process and be demanding. And how we can compete better."

For Spurs, meanwhile, their attention may already be drifting towards their upcoming Europa League final, which takes place on May 21 against Manchester United in Bilbao. 

This fixture was originally due to take place on May 18, but has been pushed forward to allow Spurs the same amount of rest as their opponents in the showpiece match. 

Spurs' Premier League woes continued last time out, losing their 20th league game of the season following a 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace at home. 

Ange Postecoglou addressed how he aims to juggle Spurs' Premier League fixtures with their upcoming Europa League final ahead of their trip to Villa Park this week. 

"Some of it's just personnel and when you're putting teams together, it's a sum of all the parts that make it effective and when you make so many changes," Postecoglou said. 

"It invariably becomes disjointed, and you're not able to play with the same sort of fluency and rhythm. If you look at our back four in Europe, along with Vic, the reason I think that it works so well is that they all complement each other, they all sort of fit the pieces.

"We've got speed, we've got the power, we've got technical ability, we've got the calmness we need, so it kind of all fits together and that's why I think we look so effective.

"Same with our front three and midfield, you're kind of always looking, whereas when you're just putting 11 players on the park, we're all very good and capable, but there are elements of that that go missing where they don't complement each other when they're out there. 

"So it doesn't allow you to play in the same way and doesn't allow you to look as fluent, but again, that's the situation we've been in. Yesterday, we didn't really reach the levels in any of our football, whether it was our press or with the ball and I think it was the effect of the changes we made.

"I also think It was emotional for the whole group on Thursday, and we got back obviously Friday morning. We didn't train on Friday, which we usually do.

"So, the preparation was limited and all those kinds of things. They're not excuses, but they're reasons why maybe the lads didn't perform at the levels we wanted them to."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Aston Villa – Ollie Watkins

Watkins scored his 75th Premier League goal last time out against Bournemouth, becoming Villa's highest goalscorer in the competition.

He is looking to score 10 home goals in the same top-flight season for the first time (currently nine), though none of his three goals against Spurs have come at Villa Park.

Tottenham – Dominic Solanke

Solanke has applied more pressures (1,198) and made more off the ball runs into the opposition box (290) than any other player in the Premier League this season.

He also has an impressive record against Villa, scoring four times against them, his joint-most against any opposition in the top-flight (level with Newcastle United).

MATCH PREDICTION: ASTON VILLA WIN

Villa have won three of their last five Premier League games against Tottenham, though they have lost the last two. It's more victories than they managed in their previous 21 against Spurs (W2 D3 L16).

Emery's team are also unbeaten in their last 20 home games in all competitions (W14 D6), with the Villans last having a longer run between September 1976 and May 1977 (24).

Indeed, since the start of March, only Newcastle United (22) have earned more points in the league than Villa (21), with the Villans winning seven of their eight matches in that time (L1).

Spurs, however, have enjoyed recent trips to Villa Park, winning eight of their last nine visits to the West Midlands (L1). Only against Manchester City (12) have they won more Premier League away games than they have against Villa (11). 

Tottenham have also won their final away league game in each of the last four campaigns, averaging four goals per game in these matches. However, their last such defeat came the last time their final away game wasn't their overall final match of the season (0-1 v Bournemouth in 2018-19).

But sitting in 17th, Tottenham are in desperate search of a confidence-boosting win before their Europa League final. They have won just one of their last 10 Premier League games, beating bottom side Southampton 3-1 in April (D2 L7). 

They have also conceded in each of their last 11 league games, their longest run without a clean sheet since a run of 17 between August and December 2010.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Aston Villa – 66.6%

Draw – 17.5%

Tottenham – 15.9%