Unai Emery conceded Aston Villa are "in a bad moment", but urged them to "recover confidence" following their 4-1 defeat by Chelsea.

The hosts were comprehensively beaten at Villa Park, despite taking the lead through Douglas Luiz's strike after just two minutes.

Joao Pedro scored a hat-trick and Cole Palmer was also on target, as Villa suffered their fourth defeat in eight Premier League games (W2 D2).

The Villans lost a Premier League home game in which they had a lead at any stage for the first time since February 2023 against Arsenal, ending a run of 45 unbeaten at Villa Park in the competition when leading (W39 D6).

Villa remain in fourth place, but now hold just a three-point cushion over Chelsea and Liverpool. Nevertheless, Emery demanded a positive response from his players, who are next in action against Lille in the opening leg of their Europa League last-16 clash on March 12.

"Chelsea played a fantastic match and the first half was the key," he told BBC Match of the Day. 

"We were defending and trying to recover the ball, but they had a very good structure and combinations and were creating chances. When they scored the second goal, the match changed a little bit.

FT. pic.twitter.com/BHUwEBewK4

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) March 4, 2026

 

“After the third and fourth [goals], it was more difficult. There is still a three-point difference between them and us, but now, we are in a bad moment.

"Now, we have time to recover it and the only way I know is by finding solutions to recover confidence, our energy and tactical structure. This is now my concern.

"We have two months in front of us, with Europe to play as well."

Following their potentially damaging defeat, the Opta supercomputer still rates Villa's chance of finishing in the top four at 63.3%, higher than Manchester United (56.7%), Chelsea (34.6%) and Liverpool (40.7%) among those in the chasing pack.