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ean Smith brings his Villa side to Anfield
this afternoon hoping they can summon
one more mighty push to help them achievePremier League survival.
Following their 1-0 defeat in last Saturday’s derby duel
with Wolves, they stood 19th in the Premier League
table with six games remaining. The run-in looks tough
too with home games against Manchester United,
Crystal Palace and Arsenal to come, plus another trip to
Merseyside to face Everton in 10 days’ time before they
wrap up their campaign at West Ham.
“We were the better team before the break – not
many teams have created chances against us,” said a
frustrated Smith after the Wolves reverse. “We more than
matched a top-six team today, but they managed to get
a goal from the edge of the box out of nothing, and we
didn’t convert the chances we had.
“Right from the start it is fine margins. I think we look a
sound team, but we just probably need a bit of quality in
the final third.”
Last Saturday’s defeat saw Aston Villa become the first
team in the division to concede 60 goals. But they will
find hope in the fact that their goalscoring tally of 36 was
better than nine of the other Premier League teams.
Captain Jack Grealish has led the way with seven
goals from midfield while striker Wesley has five, but the
Brazilian international is ruled out for the rest of the
season with a knee injury.
Smith had worked wonders to help Villa gain
promotion to the top-flight through the play-offs last
season, having only been appointed to manage the
team he supported as a boy in October.
He knew that consolidating in the Premier League
again would be a tough task but their struggles have
been shown up by the fact that they have lost 19 of
their 32 matches so far and won only seven.
Just two of those victories have come on their
travels: a thumping 5-1 triumph at fellow promoted
side Norwich City in early October, plus a 2-1 defeat of
Burnley at Turf Moor New Year’s Day.
However there is no doubting they have the quality
to hurt teams as Liverpool themselves discovered in
the corresponding fixture at Villa Park in November.
The Reds trailed for over an hour following Mahmoud
Trezeguet’s opening goal before turning things around
late on with Andy Robertson’s 87th-minute equaliser
and Sadio Mane’s winner four minutes into added-
time.
Since the resumption of football last month, Villa
have drawn two and lost two of their four fixtures and
last weekend’s narrow defeat to Leandro Dendoncker’s
second-half finish has left the Villans with it all to do.VILLANS LOOKING FOR FINAL MONTH HEROICS
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