Aston Villa winger Leon Bailey acknowledged the Champions League is "where we want to be", following Wednesday's 1-0 win over Brighton.

Unai Emery's side consolidated their grip on third place, six points ahead of Chelsea in fifth, after a late Jack Hinshelwood own-goal secured a narrow victory at Villa Park.

Villa agonisingly missed out on Champions League football on the final day of last season, during which they reached the quarter-finals of Europe's premier club competition.

They boosted their hopes of returning to the continent's top table and, after successive home defeats, Bailey highlighted the importance of getting back to winning ways.

"It's massive. The Premier League is crazy, you never know what can take place," the winger, whose corner led to the decisive goal, told TNT Sports. 

"If we had won the last two home games, we'd be in a great position. The Champions League positions is where we want to be.

"[The win] was well-needed. It's been tough, the last few games here at home. Tonight was important, and we had to get the victory. Our fans can have something to go home and be happy about."

Back to winning ways at Villa Parkpic.twitter.com/BvqYglc9Sh

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) February 11, 2026

Villa's back-to-back defeats on home soil came after eight straight wins, and Emery concurred that victory over Brighton was crucial, though he was sure not to get carried away by his side's position.

"We needed to win," he added. "We needed to recover confidence through the result, to continue building the team in the structure we have, and those three points are really very important.

"We lost two matches and had been feeling so strong here. We finished fantastically with the three points.

"I don't want to speak about other teams; we are focusing on ourselves. We are going to try to focus on each match. We [reached] 50 points, and it is fantastic."