Emery Praises Jhon Duran For Impressive Early Season Form At Aston Villa

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Unai Emery commended Jhon Duran's dedication after the striker netted again in Aston Villa's 2-1 win against Leicester. Duran, who attracted significant interest from West Ham and Chelsea during the transfer window, chose to stay at Villa. The 20-year-old has already scored twice in the first three matches of the season, including a decisive goal on the opening day against West Ham.

Emery expressed his satisfaction with Duran's focus and performance, stating: "He is focused, I didn't need to speak a lot about his future [during the window]. He is focused here. He has trained very well and is playing very well, doing the work we planned. He is scoring goals. Fantastic."

Aston Villa has maintained impressive away form under Emery, securing 16 wins since he took charge. Only Manchester City and Arsenal have more victories in this period. Emery attributes this success partly to the passionate support from Villa fans during away games. "We spoke about our supporters and that we always feel good away because we feel them. We have to be happy but keep going," he said.

Lamare Bogarde also received praise from Emery for his performance as right-back in his first Premier League start following Matty Cash's injury last week. "He played being comfortable," said Emery. "When we use different young players, when we will need them they must be ready. Bogarde, he has qualities to play there [right-back] and to do well. He played well."

Leicester manager Steve Cooper felt the result was unjust for his team. Cooper told BBC Sport: "I thought we looked a good team at times today. We definitely didn't deserve to lose the game." He highlighted a controversial free kick that led to Villa's first goal, saying: "For the first goal, we need to own the set play - but it should never have been a free kick."

Despite the loss, Cooper remains optimistic about Leicester's future performances in the Premier League. "In the three games we've seen, we've seen more than enough in the performances to feel like we're going to be OK [in the Premier League]," he added.

Aston Villa heads into the international break with confidence after securing three points against Leicester.