Unai Emery praised “fighter” and “very good guy” Morgan Rogers after the Aston Villa midfielder continued his fine vein of form.
The 23-year-old scored two stunning goals to help Villa defeat Manchester United 2-1, moving them back within three points of Premier League leaders Arsenal.
After also recording a brace against West Ham, Rogers became the first Villa player to score two or more goals in back-to-back Premier League appearances since Dion Dublin in November 1998 (three in a row).
Rogers has now scored 21 goals across all competitions since the start of last season – aged 23 years and 148 days today, he’s the youngest to net 20+ for a Premier League team in this period.
Emery was delighted to see Rogers get on the scoresheet again, especially after a slow start to the season in front of goal.
“We need the numbers of the players and today and last week Morgan Rogers is performing fantastically, but he has started the season not getting [goalscoring] numbers but playing well,” Emery said.
“Always doing his task, always with the commitment he's showing, with the attitude he has, played each match. Today he did the same and scored goals, of course. He is the protagonist.
“I'm so, so happy because he's a fighter. He's a good guy, very good guy. His commitment with Aston Villa is massive, and his attitude every day is really fantastic.
“And when he's getting numbers like today, of course we are very proud of everybody, but especially today with him.”
GD MORNING VILLANS pic.twitter.com/lagT3jOGxi
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 22, 2025
Villa have won 10 consecutive matches as a top-flight team for the first time since March 1914 (a run of 11).
And in the Premier League, only in 2023-24 (39) did they have more points on Christmas Day than they will this season (36).
Despite their winning run and league position, Emery was most pleased with getting the win over United.
“The result was fantastic, and this is the most important thing,” Emery added.
“Then how we compete as well was fantastic because Manchester United faced us with their qualities, their ideas as well.
“We competed fantastically. We struggled, it was a tough match, but our momentum in 90 minutes showed our qualities through different players.”