The Midlands club are not having the best of moments, having lost four in a row in all competitions.
While Emery is not panicking, given Villa are still in contention domestically and in Europe, he knows they must improve fast.
He told reporters: "We are building a team and we are trying to increase our level and demands. Of course, there is still a gap and distance to those teams in the Premier League like Liverpool, like Man City and even when we compete well, it is very difficult.
"This year, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, Fulham, Brentford, they compete well. Now we are not really imposing with those teams some distance in the table.
"Only now is Liverpool. We played here (at Liverpool) before and we know their capacity and potential in a lot of things. We are trying to compete and be positive, to play here thinking how can we reduce the distance to face them and have the possibility to win.
"We did more or less this work here, but it was not enough. I accept it. My objective with the club and the team, we achieved before what we were thinking.
"If we are increasing and improving as best as possible in our process and way, it is of course welcome.
"We have to try to get the balance because maybe last year we achieved this level and this year we are not getting it at the moment. I am positive but we have to know how we are doing our way."
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