Dean Smith spoke to the media on Friday morning ahead of this weekend’s Premier League tie against Fulham at Villa Park.
The Aston Villa head coach spoke about a number of topics as his side gear up to resume action after the international break.
Here’s what he had to say…
On team news…
“Jack Grealish’s trained all week – he’s only had a few sessions though. He seems in good nick and he seems fit enough, so he’s certainly put himself up for selection which is good for everybody.
“We’ve pretty much got a fully fit squad. Wesley is still playing catch-up in terms of his match fitness. He’s playing for the Under-23s today.
“Kortney Hause is back in full-time training. We had a practice game behind closed doors during the international break for all the players who hadn’t been getting minutes.
“We’re in a good place at the moment.”
On Ollie Watkins scoring on his England debut…
“He got welcomed back into Bodymoor Heath by everybody yesterday. The smile on his face was still there.
“Everybody here is so pleased for him and I know everybody at my old club Brentford will be as well because he’s such a likable lad and he works extremely hard.
“He’s earned that right to get on the pitch for England. First of all to get called up and then score with his second touch of the game is a great story for him and others like him.”
On Villa’s other international players…
“I’ve never seen him try it before [John McGinn’s overhead kick for Scotland]. He’s the one that comes out with the most banter at the football club.
“Even on the training ground after training, I’ve never seen him do that. He’ll come back with a smile on his face.
“We’ve had two lads travel to play in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying. They’ve both qualified: Trezeguet with Egypt and Bertrand Traore with Burkina Faso.
“We’ve got some smiling faces coming back from internationals, which is really good.”
On facing Fulham…
“It will certainly be a very different game [to the reverse fixture]. Looking at the last game they played and when we played them earlier in the season, there are only five players who started that game against us.
“It’s going to be very different. I believe they’re a good team and a team that’s in-form. They’ve already made up a great amount of points on the teams above them when it looked they were getting cut adrift.
“That shows the job that Scott Parker’s done that they’re in touching distance of three of four other clubs now.”
