Aston Villa's players are 'absolutely loving' life under new manager Unai Emery after a clear improvement in form, according to journalist Ashley Preece.

The Lowdown: Villa pick up another win

The Villans made the trip to Brighton for a tough Premier League clash on Sunday afternoon but ended up passing the test with flying colours.

After falling behind in the first minute to an Alexis Mac Allister goal, Danny Ings equalised with a penalty and then scored a deflected winner in the second half.

The victory lifted Villa to 12th place in the table as the Emery revolution continues into the World Cup break, with wins in both of their league matches since the 51-year-old took charge at the start of the month.

The Latest: Players 'loving' Emery

Taking to Twitter, Preece discussed the positive feeling in the squad under the Spaniard currently, with Emery already instilling a much happier mood among the camp at Bodymoor Heath.

Sharing a corresponding article from Birmingham Live, the reporter revealed:

"Unai Emery points to a newfound confidence amongst his #avfc squad as Villa dig in to make it a 6-point start under the new head coach. The players are absolutely loving it under Unai."

The Verdict: Feel-good factor

The current feeling at Villa Park compared to the end of Steven Gerrard's reign could hardly be more contrasting, when you think back to how toxic and dispirited things seemed only a month ago.

Emery has instilled a new-found confidence within the team, as highlighted by Sunday's hero Ings, and it has led to highly impressive wins over both Manchester United and Brighton.

In many ways, the World Cup break has come at a bad time for Villa in terms of halting their momentum, and the hope is that it hasn't gone away after Christmas as Emery aims to build upon this very promising start to life at the Midlands club.