Unai Emery chose not to rub salt in the wound for his former club Arsenal, after Aston Villa pulled off an unexpected 2-0 triumph at the Emirates.
He said: "No, it is not how the match is. It is for Aston Villa, it's because we had 60 points and with those points we have 63.
"We are closer to being in the top five, this is the only motive I had before the match. Of course, Arsenal to win here it is very difficult because they are doing an amazing season and I think they are very difficult to lose here, to create chances here is very difficult.
"I am very proud of our work, of how the players were focusing and being demanding of themselves to get it."
The Villa coach was in charge of Arsenal for 18 months, starting in May 2018 until he was fired in November 2019 due to poor performance. Nearly three years after leaving Arsenal, he came back to the Premier League to take over from Steven Gerrard at Villa Park.
Emery has become very popular with Villa fans, turning the team's luck around and putting them in the running for Champions League qualification. It's still uncertain whether finishing fifth in the Premier League will be good enough to get a spot in next season's Champions League.
