Dean Smith felt his Aston Villa side were worthy winners as they secured a 2-1 victory at Everton.
Anwar El Ghazi’s curling 20-yard strike proved the difference in the 80th minute at Goodison Park, the Dutchman claiming his eighth Premier League goal of the season.
Ollie Watkins had earlier fired Villa ahead with his 13th of the campaign only for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to almost immediately pull the hosts level.
But all three points was fair reward for a Villa side who struck the woodwork twice through El Ghazi and Ross Barkley and also forced Jordan Pickford into several fine saves.
“I thought we were worthy winners,” Smith told VillaTV.
“It was a tough game but a really entertaining game, I thought we started extremely well on the front foot, like the previous week against West Bromwich Albion.
“Ollie has pick-pocketed the centre-back, scored a really good goal, and we created the big chances in the first half.
“Credit to Everton, though, they made a game of it and it was two evenly-matched teams.
“Unfortunately we conceded a set-piece and Jordan Pickford probably gained parity in his ongoing game battle with Ollie Watkins.
“Ollie had some chances, he scored one, and the goalkeeper made some really good saves as well.”
Reflecting on El Ghazi’s superb matchwinning strike, Smith added: “He would be the first to say, it’s what we want to see more of him.
“He’s capable of those qualities that he’s got, he’s a great technician, but he showed a lot of drive here which is what we wanted to see more of and I’m really pleased with his performance.
“The team in general…people have been talking about ‘nothing to play for’, ‘on the beach’ and I said to the players here, that’s a question against our professionalism and we want to finish as high as we can.
“I feel we’ve been building to this win and the performance here.”
You can watch Dean's full interview below...
