Valencia vs Osasuna preview - Emery: It's in our hands

Posted Wednesday, May 02, 2012 by PA

Valencia coach Unai Emery has been preaching positivity as Los Che look to put their miserable recent run behind them and secure a third-placed finish over the final weeks of the Primera Division season.

Emery's men head into Wednesday's home clash with Osasuna having lost four of their last five fixtures, two of which saw them dumped out of the Europa League semi-finals by Atletico Madrid and the other came at the hands of top-four rivals Malaga at the weekend.

That 1-0 loss at La Rosaleda saw Malaga move level with Valencia on 55 points, although the latter still managed to retain third place due to their better head-to-head record against the Andalusian side this season.

Valencia will now attempt to keep hold of that berth in their final three games, which see them hosting Osasuna and Villarreal before going to Real Sociedad on the last weekend.

Emery said: "It's in our hands. We are three games from the end of the league and we are third, we need to be optimistic.

"Would we have signed for this at the start? There's been more good things than bad."

However, Emery, whose side were also knocked out of the Copa del Rey semi-finals by Barcelona in February, does acknowledge things have not gone smoothly since Christmas as they chased glory on three fronts.

"The second half of the season has not been good and the reason is because team has been `full'. We've spent four months working at a brutal level, which is the only way to reach the semi-finals.

"Aside from Barcelona and Real Madrid, the rest of us don't have that capacity. We are third because the team has been thrashing itself all season and if we continue doing like we have been doing we have a good chance of finishing third.

"We've been unable to put the cherry on the top by reaching a final, but it's not a failure. It's true that we've let slip an eight-point advantage in La Liga, but we've also gone through many adversities such as losing (Sergio) Canales and (Ever) Banega for the season."

Osasuna make the trip to the Mestalla still in with a chance of securing European football themselves next season.

Despite winning just once in their last six matches the Pamplona outfit are eighth in the standings on 48 points, one behind sixth-placed Atletico.

Osasuna are waiting on the fitness of defender Miguel Flano, who missed the weekend draw against Villarreal through injury, but Sergio Fernandez, Kike Sola, Masoud Shojaei and Jon Echaide are definitely missing.

Valencia are without long-term absentees Canales and Banega while Sofiane Feghouli is suspended following his red card in the Malaga defeat.