Villa are expected to make changes for the match against Eredivisie side Go Ahead Eagles on Thursday evening (5.45pm), with a huge Premier League clash against Manchester City to come this weekend.
Emery’s men have won their opening two games in the competition and the boss admitted wins over Bologna and Feyenoord were used to gain confidence amid a poor start to the domestic season.
He said: “The priority is the Premier League at the moment, and of course, we need to improve, and we need to get points we didn’t achieve before, and we need perform better and better.
“And this competition, we started really, very, very well. The first two matches we won. And we use it, this competition as well, to get confidence.
“Tomorrow, the objective is not to get confidence. It is to compete. To compete because after how we started, the three points are very, very important to be the top eight.”
Ruled out: Aston Villa’s Lucas Digne
Lucas Digne has been ruled out after suffering an ankle injury against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, while Emery said Youri Tielemans and Andres Garcia were also out.
Ross Barkley trained with the team on Wednesday, but is not in the squad list for the competition so will play no part.
Meanwhile, Emery has confirmed the club are working on new contracts for Morgan Rogers, Matty Cash and John McGinn.
“Of course, they are very important players for us,” said Emery. “Their commitment with Aston Villa is massive commitment, always being very, very positive, and playing with their qualities.
“Now they are showing as well, probably getting better, and for the team that is very, very important.”
Go Ahead are 12th in the Eredivisie after nine games but have sought the help of Premier League champions Liverpool to help scout Villa.
The Reds, managed by Dutchman Arne Slot, have sent video footage to the club to help them prepare.
Boss Melvin Boel said: “We looked at multiple footage on different platforms.
“We have some people in football who we have a good connection with, some people from Liverpool.
“The moment you have that information, you can prepare on the opponent. Liverpool shared with us footage of Aston Villa.”
