Unai Emery delighted with Aston Villa's "respect" for Sheffield United during 5-0 Bramall Lane rout

Unai Emery was pleased that his Aston Villa side were "respectful" of Sheffield United during their 5-0 hammering of the Blades at Bramall Lane in their Premier League clash this afternoon. Villa were 4-0 up inside half an hour and put the gloss on the game early in the second half, through Alex Moreno's easy finish.

The manner of Villa's rapid ascension in terms of the scoreline brought back horror flashbacks of the 8-0 defeat to Newcastle earlier this season, but Villa eased off the gas after going 5-0 up although Wes Foderingham made a smart save from substitute Moussa Diaby in the second half. United forced Emi Martinez into a smart double save, before Vini Souza had a goal ruled out by VAR in stoppage time.

Wilder's apology to United supporters after 5-0 hammering v Villa

United boss Chris Wilder apologised to Blades supporters after admitting his side had "let them down" and his opposite number Emery was understandably delighted after Villa moved up to fourth in the Premier League table. "We had control of the game and we were clinical," he said. "We got confidence quickly and we were feeling comfortable.

"We finished the first half with a very good result and we tried to be respectful of them firstly and tried to play seriously and practise playing the match thinking of things we needed to improve. The most important thing is to win and try to be respectful of the opponent and play seriously in every minute we are facing the match.

3/10s dominate poor player ratings from 5-0 home hammering v Villa

"We were scoring goals and we tried to stop them as well, as we did before we scored four goals in the first half. In the last moment we conceded one goal before VAR, before we conceded two very good chances for them. I want to be demanding in that moment to play seriously and respect them.

"When you win like that overall we have to be happy but in the next matches we are not always going to be comfortable like that and we have to be serious in our gameplan and be responsible."