Aston Villa boss Unai Emery is “optimistic” his side’s charge for European football next season will prove successful. Villa’s 2-1 win against Tottenham last week lifted them level with the Londoners, who sit seventh in the Europa Conference League play-off place, and to within a point of Brighton, who occupy the last Europa League spot. Emery, whose side play at Liverpool on Saturday, told a press conference: “After the match against Tottenham, I am optimistic. It’s not in our hands, but we are going to play and try to win.” Villa responded to recent back-to-back league defeats with victory against struggling Tottenham, their 14th top-flight win in 23 games since Emery took charge last October. That run has seen the former Arsenal boss nominated for Premier League manager of the season. Two games remain for Emery’s side – they are at home to Brighton on the final day – and their transformation under the Spaniard has brought a possible top-seven finish into sharp focus. “I love Europe,” Emery said: “I really want to play Europe because after 15 years, spending a lot of time playing amazing matches, amazing performances and amazing matches, I am here to try and do the same with Aston Villa.” The 51-year-old is the Europa League’s most successful manager, winning the competition three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal, while he was a runner-up with Arsenal when they lost to Chelsea in the 2019 final. “My focus, my passion, is to play here feeling strong emotions together, firstly in the Premier League, secondly trying to be close to trophies and then playing in Europe,” Emery said. “That is my motivation every day. It’s the reason we have to be focused and, involving the people around us, thinking about football and the possibilities in our life.” Emery revealed midfielder Philippe Coutinho will play no part in Villa’s last two games after sustaining an unspecified injury in training before the Tottenham match. Emery added: “I talked with him this week. He’s a little bit unlucky with his month because I didn’t see him play matches like I want. “But, of course, with the injuries coming, we have to be patient as well, now we are going to wait for his recovery. “This year, he’s not going to play again until the end of this season because we are finishing in two weeks.” Defender Calum Chambers missed training on Thursday due to illness, but is expected to be included in the squad for the trip to Anfield. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live My heart will always be here – Lucas Moura says goodbye to Tottenham Rory McIlroy struggles to make gains in US PGA Championship first round Iga Swiatek hoping to defend her French Open title despite thigh issue

The Philadelphia Phillies have traded Arizona Fall League standout Oliver Dunn to the Milwaukee Brewers for some prospect capital.

A pro's pro.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart insists there was no political motivation behind the decision for his national championship football team to decline an invitation to visit the White House in June

Jadon Sancho has removed his social media post claiming to have become a scapegoat at Man Utd.

The Man Utd assistant coach who will take suspended Erik ten Hag's place on the touchline against Everton.

Jordan Spieth kept a clean card and clean pants in the rain-soaked opener to the PGA Tour postseason

Mikel Arteta addresses Bukayo Saka injury concerns after the winger hobbled off early in the 2-0 win over Sevilla. The 22-year-old was the best player on the pitch until that point, registering a goal and assist.

Prior to a truce between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf last month, an adviser to the Saudi Public Investment Fund proposed that Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy could own LIV Golf teams and play in the Saudi-backed tour, according to a 276-page report released by the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on Tuesday.

A record sum of almost £6billion was spent on international transfer deals this summer, with Saudi clubs’ spending topping £700million. The outlay by clubs in the Pro League was second only to the Premier League, whose teams spent just under £1.6bn on overseas deals alone, according to FIFA’s International Transfer Snapshot which was published on Friday. In total, 7.36bn US dollars (£5.89bn) was spent globally in the summer window, while agents’ fees for 2023 are already at a record annual high – 696.6m US dollars or £558m. The spending on deals in 2023 is a 47 per cent increase on the same period last year, and 26.8 per cent up on the previous mid-year record set in 2019. Saudi clubs spent £701m on transfers according to FIFA, with Al Hilal’s signing of Neymar for a reported £77m from Paris St Germain the biggest single deal involving a Pro League club. The spending figure could have been much higher. Al Hilal also bid a world-record £259m for PSG forward Kylian Mbappe, but the player refused to enter talks. Al Ittihad, meanwhile, had a bid of £150m rejected for Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah. Saudi clubs’ spending on international deals was just ahead of France (£688.8m) and Germany (£610.8m). They also spent more than double the amount laid out by clubs in Spain, where the total was £324.9m. Saudi spending meant that for the first time, a confederation other than UEFA contributed more than 10 per cent of the total summer spend, with the Asian Football Confederation’s figure at 14 per cent. Four Saudi clubs – Al Hilal, Al Ittihad, Al Nassr and Al Ahli – have been majority-owned by the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) since June. The fund has assets under management estimated at a value of around £476bn. Germany topped the list for money earned from international transfers at 1.11bn US dollars (£889m) – the first time a single country has earned more than one billion dollars from summer deals. The FIFA report also identified an increase in the number of international deals in the women’s game for a sixth successive year. There were a record 829 transfers in the mid-year period including a record 66 which involved fees. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Darcy Graham passed fit for Scotland in World Cup opener against South Africa Alex Mitchell ready to continue World Cup rollercoaster ride in England’s opener Josh Sheehan using ‘dark days’ after injury as motivation to revive Wales career

Girona threw down the gauntlet to Spain's big two who meet in the Clasico on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo on Friday...

An Arsenal fan got an unexpected boost ahead of a job interview after receiving a message from player Vivianne Miedema. Dutch forward Miedema had a few words of encouragement for a nervous supporter after they shared their worries about the upcoming interview as it was on Zoom. A Twitter user by the name of Beth, who makes clear she’s a big fan of Arsenal Women’s FC, was looking for support – but she never would have expected one of her favourite footballers. “I got an interview for my dream job but i dont know if i can do the interview… its via zoom and the only people i can call are my girlfriend, mum and sister,” Beth wrote, without tagging anyone. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter To her amazement, Miedema replied out of the blue to Beth and had some inspiring words. “I’m pretty sure you will be just fine. Relax and just show them your qualities, good luck,” the 26-year-old. Not quite believing her luck, Beth replied: “thank you so much… oh my god I love you.” It’s not every day you get one of your favourite footballers encouraging you, and social media users were full of goodwill messages for her. “The way I checked to see if it's THE Vivianne Miedema,” one said, to which Beth replied: “pls so did i. i was so confused.” Another added: “If the GOAT has faith in you, you can smash it! Goodluck.” Meanwhile, Arsenal Women side narrowly missed out on the Women’s Super League title last season, finishing a point behind Chelsea despite losing just once all season and beating West Ham on the final day. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.