Graham Potter’s arrival as head coach at West Ham has received strong support from Aston Villa colleague Unai Emery.
Potter was signed by the Hammers on a two-and-a-half-year deal this morning, with his first game on the bench tomorrow night when West Ham visit Villa in the FA Cup third round.
#AVLWHU ๐ pic.twitter.com/VMPE5YPMyw
โ Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) January 9, 2025
His arrival adds an element of intrigue to the Premier League match which pits eighth-placed Villa against 14th-placed West Ham.
Emery expects former Brighton and Chelsea boss Potter to improve the London club’s fortunes.
He said: โWest Ham have very good players, it’s a good club too. It’s not good news when they change one manager, but of course there is an opportunity for him now and we will respect West Ham and we will respect Graham Potter because he was successful when he coached here in England before. I think he will do a good job.โ
FA Cup woe for Emery
Villa have enjoyed great success under Emery, but the FA Cup has provided few highlights.
In his first season in charge, his side were surprised by lower league side Stevenage, while last year they lost in a fourth-round replay at home to Chelsea.
When asked if he found it frustrating, the Spaniard added: “It depends, because the circumstances were at that moment. We didn’t win something in the FA Cup, but it was a process. Not thinking it’s frustration. When you lose, it’s frustrating, but of course, that’s football.
“We start this year with the circumstances we have now, and tomorrow the idea is to try to be competitive and to try to start doing better than the previous two years, to try to pass this competition, one option for the trophy and one option for Europe.”
Villa will be without captain John McGinn tomorrow night as the Scotland international is still struggling with the hamstring injury he picked up against Leicester last weekend.
