Aston Villa boss Unai Emery thinks his side could have blown their chances of earning automatic qualification to the last 16 of the Champions League.

Villa could have put one foot in the next round had they beaten Ligue 1 side Monaco, but they succumbed to Wilfried Singo’s early goal and could not find a way back.

The 1-0 defeat, just the second from seven matches in an impressive debut season, means they will more than likely have to win the ‘Battle of Britain’ against Celtic next week to have any chance of finishing in the top eight and earning direct qualification to the last 16.

They are already assured of a spot in the play-off round and Emery thinks that is where they could be heading.

“When we are playing games like today, it’s important to get three points because I think we lost the opportunity to get in the top eight,” he told reporters in Monaco.

“Today was the key.”

Emery was also reminded why he chooses not to play strikers Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran together.

Duran, who has been the subject of a bid by West Ham during the transfer window, came on as an early second-half substitute to play alongside Watkins and Villa lost all their fluidity.

Emery added: “The last 20 or 25 minutes, when we played with two strikers, we lost our positioning. This is the first part of my summary. Then it is about building a team in the mentality I want.

“We are being demanding with the players we have and some are not following the plan we are doing. This is the objective I have now, trying to build the team as strong as possible with a mentality we are building progressively.

“It was my mistake when we played with two strikers because we lost positioning.”