Dean Smith spoke to the media via a virtual press conference on Thursday morning to preview Aston Villa’s trip to Newcastle United.
The club’s head coach discussed a number of subjects as he prepares his team to take on the Magpies at St James’ Park on Friday evening.
Here’s what he had to say…
On team news…
“Jack Grealish is a lot better, but you won’t see him at Newcastle unfortunately. It hasn’t helped that he’s been ill this week, which has kept him off for a couple of days.
“He’s made good progress and we’re happy with where he’s at. Hopefully he’ll be available for selection against Tottenham.
“Matt Cash will be in the squad, he’s come back from his hamstring injury quicker than expected, which is really pleasing.
“Anwar El Ghazi’s got over his infected toenail, so he’s back as well.”
On Emiliano Martinez's season...
“The impact he’s made has been incredible. We knew that he had that Premier League experience - he was recently an FA Cup winner, so we knew we were signing a good goalkeeper.
“We’ve got good goalkeepers at the football club. Unfortunately, at the time Tom Heaton was injured and wasn’t going to make the start of the season.
“It makes it a real competitive area. Thankfully, Emi has excelled which has been good for our team as a whole.”
On the season so far…
“I’d have certainly taken that [ninth place with games in hand] at the start of the season. I’d have never accepted it because I’ve always got a belief that you can go and do well, but we have progressed a lot quicker than we thought we would this season.
“We knew that we weren’t satisfied with last season and we wanted to improve anyway. The improvement in the first half of the season was very good.
“Like most teams at the moment, we’ve been a little bit inconsistent with results recently.”
On Newcastle…
“I’m very respectful of what Steve Bruce has done in the game and what he continues to do. They finished in a very good position in the league last season and I’ve no doubt they’ll do so again.
“I’m not here to tell anybody what Steve Bruce can do. He’s a far more experienced manager than I am.
“Five or six teams are looking over their shoulders – Newcastle being one of them. There’s extra importance on each game they play now.”
