Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has admitted he made a mistake by playing two strikers together after his side suffered a 1-0 defeat at Monaco in the Champions League on Tuesday. (More Sports News)royal circle club

Wilfried Singo scored the only goal of the game eight minutes in as the Premier League side missed the chance to seal automatic qualification for the last 16.

They will now likely need to beat Celtic next week to secure their place in the top eight and skip the play-off round.

Emery started with Ollie Watkins up front but brought on Jhon Duran in the 57th minute in place of Leon Bailey as Villa searched for an equaliser.  

"We have two good strikers. Playing with two strikers is my challenge. Both are very good players, but today it didn't work well," Emery said after the game.

"I made a mistake when I decided to play with two strikers. Until that moment, we were more or less controlling the game."

FT from Monaco. pic.twitter.com/bjtOn4LyLn

Villa had four shots on target in the first half despite conceding a goal early, but after the restart, they were limited to just one shot on target and an expected goals (xG) figure of 0.46. 

"I think we played 70 minutes like I wanted. The opponent, of course, have a gameplan as well. They were good in transition," Emery said.

"We created three or four good chances to score. Of course, if we want to be at this level, we have to take the chances we had. But despite that, I was more or less positive.

"The last 20 to 25 minutes we were playing with two strikers and we were not threatening like the first 70 minutes.

"With two strikers, we were not organised with the positioning like I wanted."

"It is a great honour to be nominated for the FIH Player of the Year Award again," the Indian defender stated in a Hockey India release.

India Win Gold Medal In Hero Asian Champions Trophy Moqi China 2024#hact2024#asiahockey pic.twitter.com/UgHJdtbgh9

Duran has scored 12 goals across all competitions this season, while Watkins has 10 goals and seven assists.

Villa, who were unbeaten in their previous five matches in all competitions, dropped to eighth place in the Champions League's first phaseroyal circle club, with 13 points.