Aston Villa boss Unai Emery played down his side’s Champions League credentials despite thrashing West Ham.
Villa are just two points off Premier League pacesetters Manchester City and Arsenal following Sunday’s 4-1 win.
Douglas Luiz’s double and clinical finishes from Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey ended Villa’s Hammers hoodoo, for their first victory over West Ham since 2015.
They returned to fifth spot, just a point adrift of the top four, with games against Luton, Nottingham Forest and Fulham coming up next.
“There are seven teams contending. We are after seven teams; Man City, Man United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle,” said Emery, with fifth potentially offering a Champions League place this term.
“Dream, always. My dream is to win the Champions League but now we are fifth and we are going to face each match trying to get a good performance.
“It’s 38 matches and we lost at Newcastle, we lost at Liverpool. They are matches we are not going to play again.
“I prefer to speak about the matches we won but I have to speak about the matches we lost. This is the balance. We have to be very demanding.
“In the table West Ham were two points behind us and the level we have now, they have as well. It was very important.
“The process is going in the right way, it’s going to be difficult. In the end we won 4-1.”
Luiz had already tested Alphonse Areola from distance before opening the scoring after half an hour, firing in from the edge of the box after good work by Nicolo Zaniolo and Watkins.
Six minutes after the break Villa were gifted a second when Lucas Paqueta sold Edson Alvarez short and he brought down Ezri Konsa for Luiz to convert from the spot.
But Jarrod Bowen grabbed a lifeline for the Hammers soon after when his shot hit Pau Torres to creep into the corner.
The visitors sensed a recovery, Matty Cash heading over Nayef Aguerd’s shot, but with 16 minutes left Watkins ended any ideas of a comeback. He latched onto John McGinn’s long ball, skipped past Kurt Zouma and lashed into the roof of the net.
There was still time for Bailey to get in on the act in the final minute, beating Areola from six yards after giving Aguerd the slip.
It was just West Ham’s third league defeat of the season, leaving manager David Moyes frustrated.
“I’m not having my teams losing four goals as soft as we did today. There were things which I can say we did quite well but I didn’t think we were hard enough to play against,” said Moyes, whose side are now ninth.
“Today wasn’t so good. More importantly nearly every ball we played around the box was the wrong decision and it led to us hardly creating enough opportunity to score.
“The lads kept on fighting and it looked like we were the team in ascendancy at 2-1 but they punished us really quickly and that took the game beyond our reach.
“Villa are probably just behind the top three or four in the Premier League and today was a challenge to see what level we were at and I thought we fell below that.
“It was a very close first half, we missed opportunities to score. We had opportunities to make chances to score and that was the bit bugging me at half-time.”
St. Jago, Eltham, STATHS and Wolmer’s through to Walker Cup final four
St. Jago High, Eltham High, STATHS and Wolmer’s Boys all advanced to the semi-finals of the Walker Cup knockout tournament after quarter-final wins on Thursday.
St. Jago booked their spot in the last four after a 3-2 win over Calabar High at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex.
St. Jago took an early lead before Calabar equalized in the 45th minute through Kevaun Campbell. St. Jago retook the lead five minutes into the second half through Richardo Lewis before Seon Cato made it 3-1 in the 74th minute.
Calabar got a consolation goal through Sheldon Pusey eight minutes from full time but it wasn’t enough.
In the second game of the double header at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex, Wolmer’s Boys got the better of St. George’s College 2-1.
Elsewhere, STATHS got a comfortable 3-0 win over Charlie Smith at Calabar to advance while Eltham beat Jonathan Grant 3-1 at the Spanish Town Prison Oval to make it through.
Venezuela 1-1 Brazil: Super sub Segovia holds Selecao to shock draw
Substitute Telasco Segovia delivered the pivotal goal that saw 10-man Venezuela hold Brazil to a 1-1 draw in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying.
The shock result leaves Brazil in third place, trailing second-placed Colombia by two points and far short of Argentina in first.
Brazil opened the scoring just before half-time as Raphinha curled a delightful free-kick over the Venezuela wall from 20 yards out to break the deadlock.
On the other side of the break, however, half-time substitute Segovia equalised just 41 seconds after the restart, striking from outside the box, having run onto Jefferson Savarino’s short lay-off.
The visitors were provided with a prime opportunity to restore their lead when Rafael Romo fouled Vinicius Junior in the box. But the Real Madrid forward was unable to capitalise on the resulting penalty, seeing his initial effort saved before firing the rebound wide.
As tensions rose, the game delivered further drama as Alexander Gonzalez received his marching orders in the 89th minute for lashing out at Vinicius after fouling Gabriel Martinelli.
In a farcical ending to the lively affair, sprinklers popped up in the pitch in added time to delay proceedings, but neither side could find a way through.
Data Debrief: Instant impact for super sub Segovia
Segovia's goal, 41 seconds after coming on, is the fastest for a player coming off the bench in the last three editions of the South American World Cup Qualifiers.
Venezuela have now scored two goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half, only Brazil (four) and Colombia (four) have scored more in the 2026 CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers.
Kelleher repays Ireland trust in Finland victory
Republic of Ireland winger Mikey Johnston said the team had always trusted Caoimhin Kelleher after he made a crucial penalty save in their 1-0 Nations League win over Finland.
Johnston's corner set up Brighton and Hove Albion striker Evan Ferguson for the decisive goal on the stroke of half-time, after Finland had twice been denied by the woodwork.
The visitors had a golden chance to level in the second half, but Liverpool goalkeeper Kelleher made a stunning save to deny Joel Pohjanpalo from 12 yards following a handball from Ferguson.
The result means Finland are relegated from Group B2, while Ireland must come through a play-off to remain in the competition's second tier.
Speaking after the game, Johnston credited Kelleher's all-important penalty save, saying: "I always trust him to go and save a penalty. He has reacted really well and stepped up in a big moment.
"We were aiming for the win. They had moments but there were a few chances we could have taken as well.
"We're happy that we've come away with the win. Sometimes in the last year we would have been on the other side of a bit of bad luck."
Ireland round off their campaign against England on Sunday, in Lee Carsley's final game in charge of the Three Lions before Thomas Tuchel takes the reins in January.
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