Dean Smith spoke to the media on Friday morning ahead of Aston Villa’s Premier League game against West Bromwich Albion.
Via virtual press conference, the head coach had plenty to discuss as he prepares to take on their Midlands rivals on Sunday evening.
Here’s what he had to say…
On team news…
“Jack Grealish is still out, Morgan Sanson is out, Trezeguet is out and Wesley is coming back and may be available for the squad.
“We’re going to have a good look at him today and tomorrow.”
(Matty Cash will serve a one-match suspension following his red card against Manchester City in midweek)
On Wesley's recovery from injury...
“It’s been really tough. It’s as significant an injury as I’ve seen on a player, and it shows the strength of character for him to come back from it.
“During a pandemic, it’s been really tough as we haven’t been able to arrange the amount of games that we would normally get for someone recovering from an injury.
“We’ve had to improvise a little bit, but he’s certainly a willing lad and everyone will be pleased to see him getting back.”
On John McGinn grabbing a goal against Man City...
“I wasn’t as pleased as he was because he’s been beating himself up about it. He’s been asked to play a little bit deeper at times for us this season, but it was great to see him get into the box and scoring.
“He’s become a renowned goalscorer for Scotland, internationally, and he’ll be really pleased to get that goal.
“He had one chalked off earlier in the season against Arsenal, which was very harsh. Hopefully they’ll come like buses and he’ll score another couple in the next few games.”
On playing West Brom…
“Games are running out and they need to win them, so we know they’ll be coming to Aston Villa looking for a win that can help them survive.
“I thought they started the game quite well [against Leicester on Thursday night], but once the first goal went in, Leicester were very good and scored some good goals.
“They’re fighting for every point they can get, but so are we. We know it’s a derby. We’re looking forward to the game and we want to get back to winning ways ourselves.”
