Morgan Rogers praised Aston Villa's “outstanding” performance after they secured a “deserved” 2-1 win over Manchester City on Saturday.
The 22-year-old set up Jhon Duran's opener before scoring the second as they inflicted a ninth defeat in 12 games on City, who scored in stoppage time through Phil Foden.
Rogers scored and assisted in a Premier League match for the first time; he is the youngest Villa player to do so against the reigning league champions (22 years and 148 days).
He had four of Villa's eleven shots and scored with his only effort on target, but also had the most touches in the opponent's penalty area (six) and created two chances.
“We knew it would be difficult,” he told TNT Sports. “They haven't achieved any results yet, but we knew they were going to shoot.
“We knew we needed a response the same way they did. To a man, I thought we were excellent, and I think we deserved the win.
“I try to thrive in big games and I want to show what I'm about; it's fun to perform in the big games.
“It felt harder than it probably looked. They make you work and it's so demanding when you have possession of the ball. We knew we had to be there from start to finish. We were good on the counter-attack and that's probably why we won. ” the game.”
Villa have won consecutive home games against City for the first time since April 1993, while it is also the first time since 1975/76 and 1976/77 that the Villans have defeated the reigning top-flight champions at home in consecutive seasons.
Emery was particularly impressed with Rogers' performance on Saturday and praised the youngster's impact.
“[Rogers] He has played fantastic, he is very important,” Emery told TNT Sports. “Through him we get the performance back because he links attackers with midfielders and wingers.
“He was fantastic in the second half, connecting with attackers and scoring the goals. He needs to add goals to his numbers and today he was fantastic.”
On the performance as a whole, he added: “We always try to be positive. In some matches we may not perform as we want, but we will perform.
“We feel strong. Here we played very well in the first half. In the second half we kept more ball possession and by getting into the penalty area to score the second goal, we imposed more and dominated.”
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