Dean Smith spoke to the media via video call on Friday morning.
Aston Villa’s head coach had plenty to talk about ahead of Saturday’s trip to reigning Premier League champions Liverpool.
Here’s what he had to say…
On team news…
When asked whether Jack Grealish is fit, Smith said: “No, he’s not. Myself and Jack were quite optimistic to get him back a bit sooner than he probably should and he’s had a setback that will probably put him back a couple of weeks.
“He was really good in training, but he couldn’t tolerate the loading. It’s a loading injury and we have to de-load him over the next few weeks and get him back from there.
“We know it’s not a long-term injury and he will be back. We all, Jack included, probably pushed him back a little bit too quickly. He wanted to get back, we wanted him to get back and he had a little setback.
“Kortney Hause is fit and he’ll be in the squad. Welsey came off in an Under-23s game but it was nothing to worry about and he’s trained ever since. He needs a few more games before he can be added to the squad.”
On European aspirations…
“It would have been unthinkable at the start of the season, having stayed up by the skin of our teeth last season. Some of the results we’ve had this season, certainly the consistency we showed up until January, we’ve been a bit up and down since then.
“Defensively, we’ve been strong but we’ve probably dropped off in the attacking third and that’s something that the last 20 minutes against Fulham pleased me with.
“We’ve got to go into each game believing that we can finish in that top eight. There’s certainly a will from the players.”
On the 7-2 victory against the Reds earlier in the season…
“It’s certainly the best result [of my managerial career], with the quality of the squad and team that Liverpool are, what they’d done the previous two seasons.
“Virgil van Dijk was still in the team as well. There was some fortune withing that game – we scored three deflected goals. It was an outstanding game. Ollie Watkins scored a hat-trick and he came off disappointed that he should have scored more.
“It was a really top performance and one that we can certainly look back at over time.”
On taking on Liverpool…
“I didn’t like watching them against Arsenal last week because they were outstanding. They’ve got one of the top coaches in the world, they’ve got a top team and they’re still in a place where you can be fearful when you play them.
“Not fearful in terms of not having a go at them, but they’ve got players who can hurt you. Mo Salah has 20-odd goals again this season.
“It doesn’t take an awful lot to get them firing again, as we saw against Arsenal last week.”
