Ipswich Town vs Aston Villa: Kieran McKenna states admiration for Unai Emery and reveals Morgan Rogers transfer attempt

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna has heaped praise on his opposite number Unai Emery ahead of their two sides meeting at Portman Road on Sunday, stating he is a manager he ‘admires’ and has ‘studied’ a lot.

The Spaniard took charge of Villa in October 2022, replacing Steven Gerrard, and has transformed the fortunes of the Midlands outfit - helping them return to the UEFA Champions League this season after their fourth-placed finish last term.

And despite the involvement in Europe, the Villa Park club have started this campaign with the same momentum, winning four of their opening five matches and claiming three points at Young Boys in their Champions League curtain-raiser.

“I think he’s (Emery) done a fantastic job, I have to say,” said McKenna, who is boosted by the return of midfielder Kalvin Phillips to his side for the visit of Villa on Sunday (2pm).

“He’s a manager that I admire a lot, I’ve studied his teams for lots of years, of course came up against his teams at Arsenal when he was manager there and a few times against Villareal.

“He built a fantastic team at Villareal. There were a lot of the same sort of ingredients from a tactical level as he has with this Aston Villa team.

“He’s built a very, very good side, I really enjoy watching them play. We share some principles I think in terms of how both teams are set up, but they’re executing to a fantastic level at the moment and have done so for more than 12 months.

“It will be a great test for us, we’re really looking forward to it, we feel we know the opposition pretty well and it’s up to us now to do everything we can to make a really difficult game for them.”

One Villa player who has caught the eye of many from the opening five matches of the Premier League season is attacker Moragn Rogers.

The England Under-21 international, who Emery signed from Middlesbrough on January transfer deadline day last season, has started every league game this term and McKenna revealed he tried to bring the 22-year-old to Portman Road.

“We were certainly there or thereabouts to bring him here a couple of times earlier in his years when he was on his loan moves and he’s a player that I’ve known for a number of years,” said McKenna.

“We played against him nine months ago for Middlesbrough and the signing from Aston Villa, how well they’ve improved him, how well he’s done, the impact he’s had at Premier League level is, apart from this weekend, is great to see.”

Town’s 1-1 draw at Southampton last weekend, courtesy of skipper Sam Morsy’s last-gasp equaliser, saw them go three games unbeaten in the Premier League having faced Liverpool and Manchester City in their opening two matches.

The visit of Villa this weekend means the Blues will have come up against three of the four teams who finished in the Champions League spots last term in their first six matches of the campaign.

Asked if he believes his side are on track, McKenna said: “I think our goal is to be as competitive as we can be each week and, I think in that way, you can say we’re on track.

“We’ve been competitive for the large majority of most games, we’ve been in the last games in terms of the result, and ended up with draws.

“If we can be competitive in each match then you give yourself the chance to find a way to get a result.

“We know we’re not going to win four, five nil every week, so it’s about finding ways to prepare and compete so that we can be a difficult team to play against and be competitive in the match.”