Unai Emery says he wants to “support” and “help” Marcus Rashford after the Manchester United loanee impressed as Aston Villa cam from behind to beat Chelsea at Villa Park.
Another of Villa’s loan signings, Marco Asensio, scored twice in the second-half as the hosts recovered from Enzo Fernandez’s opener to claim a 2-1 victory.
Rashford, who came off the bench at half-time, provided assists for both goals as the England forward looks to reignite his career away from Old Trafford.
Rashford looked a constant threat on the left for Villa, and Emery revealed he wanted to help the 27-year-old regain his confidence.
A MASSIVE THREE POINTS 😁 pic.twitter.com/wbtSyXgXAn
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) February 22, 2025
“[We want to] support him, help him, make him feel comfortable here to get confidence with us,” said Emery after the game.
“He’s going to hopefully be more and more important for us.”
The Villa boss admitted the first half performance against Chelsea was below par but he praised his players’ showing after the break.
Emery said: “We needed more. We conceding a lot and not dominating matches. Today we started very badly, we conceded the goal. We were late on our press. Then we were getting progressively better.
“In the second-half, we played fantastically. The subs had a good impact, and we needed it because we played on Wednesday [against Liverpool] and we were getting tired.”
Emery added that it was vital for Villa to bolster their squad in the January transfer window if they are to compete in three different fronts this season.
“We were with the necessity to improve our squad,” said the Spaniard.
“We want the players to compete in the top eight, the FA Cup and the Champions League.”
