Dean Smith believes Aston Villa have what it take to stay up despite the club’s fifth defeat from six in the Premier League. A 120-second collapse at the hands of Chelsea undid Villa’s resolve, with Villa hardly laying a glove on Frank Lampard’s side but for a rare Kortney Hause strike. Villa remains 19th, a point behind Bournemouth and West Ham United directly above them.
Dean Smith said “We’re no further away from Bournemouth and the other teams down there, We’ve got a good enough chance as the other teams down there. I’d love to ask more questions, yeah. You’ve got to get the ball off the opposition. We showed a lot of spirit in the last 15 minutes. Today, we’ve come up against a top-four team in the last 15-20 years. It was never going to be easy. We took the lead and remained hopeful we’d keep the clean sheet. A bit of quality and a little bit of fortune made a difference. It doesn’t worry me. The advantage you lose is at home now is the influence supporters can have over officials. That’s one of the biggest advantages you probably lose. The two games we’ve played at home the players have been in the zone, the coaching staff as well. We should have won the first game against Sheffield United but for missed chances. We knew it was going to be tough. Training sessions have been good, performances have been good.”
