Emery: Tottenham are favourites
"We are respecting the past we did, playing at home and away against Tottenham. Every match we play we try to identify and correct mistakes in our process. Now I am analysing how we are now and how are they with the players they have and in the new season we are doing.
"Tottenham is playing very well and they deserved more points than they have now. They beat Manchester City at home, playing with lots of players who will play on Sunday. Their style and idea is so, so strong. They have individually brilliant players. They signed Solanke and he is giving them a lot more ways to attack and be stronger than last year.
"They are the favourites in front of us for the season and for the match on Sunday. We are competing and we are really being confident, how we are doing our way. We even lost last year against them. We are trying to use a stronger structure to face them on Sunday. We are very excited and motivated, our fans, myself, the coaches, players and the club how we are increasing our level to be contenders with Tottenham, City, Chelsea and Newcastle. Competing with them to be in the top seven, top six or top five."
Martinez's plan to play into his 40s
"Obviously they feel the love and respect I have for the club because they invested in me when I really wasn't what I am today," Martinez told DSPORTS. "How well the national team is doing, what I achieved in this club, the people love you, my family is well here, every time I play, on the pitch I feel praised, I feel like I’m playing in Argentina and that’s really hard to achieve.
"Making a change [transfer] doesn’t mean there’s always light at the end of the tunnel. And playing as good as I am with the national team and with the club and feeling I am growing, why would I change that?
"I haven't reached my peak yet, I feel great. You have to prepare yourself with work and I keep adding things to my routine. I work with people to continue helping me, I invest in myself and that is helping me achieve things that no one else has achieved."
Asked about how long he will be able to play for, Martinez said: "Until my body gives me the strength. Life is very long after that. I renewed for four more years [at Villa], so I will be here until I am 35 or 36.
"I go year by year, I know that my body will last until I am 41 or 42 easily. With what I have been doing physically, stretching and all that. The life of footballers is longer these days. And, given the way I work, I will. When my head explodes, I will be beyond repair!
"Before the matches I do pilates twice. I work out in the gym, during the warm-up there is a machine that you use to stretch your leg to get the adductor muscles going and I use it. People ask me if that is the World Cup save, but no! It is the one I do every weekend. There are many things I work on in pilates, including my back, to get the ball out quicker."
Duran's 'love and hate' relationship with Emery
"There are [moments of] love and hate, sometimes! But no, I feel very grateful to him, very grateful to him and his coaching staff. We've had many problems, but they're normal, I think," Duran said in an interview with Sky Sports.
"The truth is, I'm very happy to be here with him, to share the space with him, to learn from his teachings. He wants to teach me all the time. He's protective, sometimes.
"Sometimes it happens, and there are sparks! So we're constantly fighting! But I think it's normal for a young man of my age, and a person like him who already knows a lot, who has already achieved so many things.
"And the truth is, I feel very, very grateful to be in this space, and that he's a person as great in football as he is. To learn more from him every day, and I'm very happy with him here.
"Yes, sometimes we argue. Because he has his point of view, I have mine, and I've never been the one who stays quiet. If I have something to say, no matter who it is, I say it."
Postecoglou hails Emery
"Yeah, great appointment, but it shouldn't surprise anyone, he was an outstanding manager before he got there. He's done an outstanding job and another cautionary tale about writing people off because when he was at Arsenal, people were quick to be dismissive of him.
"Lots of other people's memories have faded. When you're a manager and you see a manager going through what he did, it's firmly imprinted in your mind, it just goes to show, as I said, he was an outstanding manager and for Villa, they identified somebody that could come in and really bring their football club to the levels they wanted to, and he's done that.
"Since he's been there they continue to get stronger and challenge and it'll be a good test for us. Our games against them have been really good.
"Last year, we won at their place and played really well but I thought we played well at our place too but they got on top of us, they got ahead of us for the Champions League last year. It's great competition for us."
Sutton's prediction
"The away team won on both occasions when these two sides met last season, and you could make a case for Tottenham or Aston Villa coming out on top here," Sutton said in his BBC predictions column.
"I do like the way Spurs play but they could do with having Son Heung-min fit - he has missed three of their past four league games - and they have a few other injuries too.
"Whoever is missing, though, Ange Postecoglou will not change his bullish approach. I admire that, and I find it amazing the way people view Spurs at the moment.
"They have won eight of their past 10 games in all competitions, which is pretty good I think, but there is always this underlying 'Spursy' or 'typical Spurs' label they get given whenever they slip up.
"That could happen here, of course. Spurs will dominate the ball this time too, but I have got no doubt that Villa will score, because they carry such a threat and their front players will definitely have their moments in this game.
"So, there will definitely be plenty of goals... but maybe there won’t be a winner this time - Tottenham have not had a draw since the first game of the season, and I think they will get one here."
Sutton's prediction: 2-2
Bailey pep talks revealed
"Every day I am speaking with him about it [his form]," Emery said of Bailey. "Of course, I am very, very demanding with him. He is accepting my challenge to get of him the best, like he did last year. We need him.
"For us he is very important and he is working to recover in everything: confidence, getting minutes and getting a good feeling. Get back to the confidence he played with last year, or two years ago as well, in some moments.
"Leon Bailey is a very specific player for us as a winger, to play on the right wing, threatening in behind and we will need him. Hopefully he will recover as soon as possible, but I think he played on Wednesday and he did good minutes.
"He is aware of how the distance [to improve] he has himself, how he was playing in November, December, January, he was playing his best moment.
"Now he needs to recover this performance, but we are trying to support and help to him to make him feel comfortable in our structure again."
Emery: Villa's clever transfer trading key
"We are trying to be competitive on the field and trying to be consistent, building a strong structure in everything. We are improving and of course we are trying to increase our budget through Champions League, Premier League and through being intelligent in our capacity to buy and sell players.
"But the budget the others have is more than us. That is the big gap between them and us. I do not speak a lot about it but I think it makes sense, everything I am saying. Then, we are going to try and focus how we can get better, individually with the players, then improve tactically, intelligently when we are deciding to make changes.
"It is not changing one player for another and we are going to sign four players for £50million. We are trying to use our capacity, being intelligent and use our capacity to buy and sell and then try to increase individually and collectively our players and our style being stronger."
Duran on summer transfer saga
Reflecting on how close he was to leaving in the summer and his role now, Duran told Sky Sports: "Yes, I think there were rumours. As a young man, the head goes to other places. But there was always total support from Unai, from Monchi, and above all from Damian [Vidagany].
"The three of them are important pillars in this club. They have achieved many things in a short time, and they have helped me a lot.
"They were very valuable to me because they kept me grounded, they told me things as they have to be said.
"So I think that helps, in a way, the mind, and they ... I don't know, the start of the season was about my mind. Now it's different.
"With experience, we're going to do big things, and we're working for that. Thanks to them, we're here, and I'm happy here."
