Dean Smith has no doubts Aston Villa will be ready to take on Manchester City when they resume their Premier League campaign on Wednesday night.
The head coach takes his team to the Etihad on the back of just a few days' training at Bodymoor Heath after the first team completed a period of isolation following a Covid-19 outbreak.
However, Smith believes his players will be up to the task against Pep Guardiola’s side, buoyed by the fact they have one of the best away records in the top flight.
“I believe in the players and the mentality they have at the moment that they’ll be ready for this game,” he said.
“All clubs have been hit in some way. Manchester City have had a few players who’ve had it, I think Sergio Aguero will miss the game as he’s in isolation, so all clubs are having to adapt and we’re no different.
“The players have an awful lot of belief from what they’ve done already and in what they can do in this league this season. We’re looking forward to the game.”
Villa’s enforced break in fixtures means they’ve played only 15 league matches and have at least two games in hand on every team.
With the club’s schedule now packed until the end of the season, Smith can see similarities with Villa’s run to promotion from the Championship in 2018/19, when they played 46 league games and three Play-Off matches.
But it’s not something that worries him, given the experience within the team.
He said: “There are some key players who came through that (the Championship) – the likes of Tyrone Mings, John McGinn, Jack Grealish and Anwar El Ghazi.
“Ollie Watkins has also come from the Championship, so we’ve got a lot of players who know how to get through a lot of games in a short space of time.
“We’ll have to utilise the whole squad now. We believe that the squad is good enough and we’re looking forward to it.
“It’s 23 matches until the end of the season and we’re looking forward to them all.”
You can watch Part Three of Dean’s in-depth three-part interview here…