Unai Emery drops hint that Aston Villa could make signings in January

Unai Emery dropped a strong hint that Aston Villa are ready to invest in January to keep their title challenge on the right track.

Villa will go top of the Premier League if they beat Sheffield United at home on Friday and the club’s billionaire owners, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, seem prepared to back their manager next month after a spectacular first half of the season.

Emery said: ‘The owners are very ambitious and they are excited. They are enjoying it.

'We have to be very intelligent and smart because we have good players in the squad.

‘We are managing some change in terms of how we can improve the squad. It’s not easy now to change something and improve clearly.

‘We have the chance to do something and we are also going to see how we can manage some departures in the squad. We will analyse every situation in depth.’

Even though Sheffield United are bottom of the table, Emery believes the task on Friday will be just as tough as against Manchester City and Arsenal.

Both City and Arsenal were beaten 1-0 at Villa Park as Emery’s men racked up their 15th straight home win in the league – but Emery is still not taking the Blades lightly.

‘This the same level of difficult as both those games,’ Emery insisted. ‘If we think it will be easier, we are more likely to lose our first home game in a long time.’