Before their matchup on Sunday at Old Trafford, Villa is six points behind Manchester United despite having played two more games.
Aston Villa's chances of playing in the Champions League, according to Unai Emery, are "maybe impossible" before their crucial matchup against top-four opponents in the Premier League, Manchester United.
Going into Sunday's match at Old Trafford, sixth-placed Villa is six points behind United, who hold the final Champions League position and have played two less games.
"The last step is to keep in the European places," said Villa boss Emery, whose team has gone unbeaten in 10 games and won eight of them.
"We rose from the bottom to the top 10, and now the final but most challenging phase is to reach the European positions.
"For us, there are still five games left, but not for Manchester United, Brighton, or Liverpool.
"We must take advantage of the opportunity we have before us when facing the game on Sunday.
Europe may consist of the Champions League, Europa League, or Europa Conference League, of course.
"The Champions League is extremely challenging—possibly unattainable.
"Conference League and the Europa League could be," but it will also be quite challenging.
In November, Emery took over Villa after a ferocious 3-1 home win against United.
At the time, Villa was just one point above the relegation zone and playing in Europe for the first time since 2010–11 appeared exceedingly implausible. Villa fell 4-2 to United in the Carabao Cup a few days later.
But after defeating Fulham in midweek to earn his team's sixth victory in seven games, Emery declared: "We are now fighting teams like Tottenham and Liverpool, who were both competing in the Champions League final three or four years ago.
We are currently in a battle with those teams and the same individuals, as well as Brighton, who are also deserving of a spot due to their fantastic season and strong team play.
And we are supporting them. We were much behind them three months prior (in terms of points).
We should take advantage of this chance and the last new goal in front of us, enjoy it with our supporters, and, of course, work extremely hard to achieve it.
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