Unai Emery admits he was “so worried” about Aston Villa’s form earlier in the season.

Villa failed to win any of their opening six matches before beating Bologna, a result that kick-started a five-match winning run.

Although that streak ended with a shock defeat at Go Ahead Eagles, Villa responded in the perfect way by defeating Premier League title hopefuls Manchester City.

This weekend, Villa go into their game against Liverpool having won six of their last seven matches, while their opponents have lost six of their last seven in all competitions.

It has been a dramatic turnaround for Emery’s side, but the Villa boss has since confessed that he had been increasingly troubled by what he was seeing from his team.

“We increased our demands in the training sessions and in meetings. I was worried one month ago how we were performing because it was a bad, bad moment and our performances were poor," he said.

“I was so worried. I transmitted to the players my worries and tried to get solutions. We...