Simon Jordan insists Aston Villa have the capability to climb the Premier League table and challenge for their ambitious targets after swapping Steven Gerrard for Unai Emery this season.

Emery replaced Gerrard in the Villa hot seat following the club's alarming start to the Premier League campaign. Villa had only won two Premier League games by the time Gerrard was relieved of his duties in mid-October.

New head coach Emery has made an impressive start in the league, by beating the likes of Brighton, Manchester United and Tottenham, but the recent 2-1 shock defeat to Stevenage in the FA Cup came as a big blow. Former Crystal Palace owner Jordan believes that Villa will pick themselves back up and continue to strive to reach the objective of qualifying for European football.

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"Villa got into the Premier League off the back of Dean Smith, stayed in there by the skin of their teeth,” Jordan said on talkSPORT. "Jack Grealish was the big component part of that side being successful and he has gone not to Man City.

“They have redeployed the money but I think they made a bad decision with Steven Gerrard. I said at the time it wasn’t the fit, it just didn’t feel like the right fit for either of them.

“They’ve now got a grown up manager with due respect to Steven Gerrard, I don’t mean he is a child, I mean in management terms, he is not in the same bracket as Unai Emery.

“Emery had a difficult time of it at Arsenal but when we look back at that we think about it differently, it was more parody for his accent than performances on the pitch.

“Unai Emery has the ability to lift Villa to another level and take them up the pyramid alongside this ownership model and want to back it.”

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