Tyrone Mings exclusive: People remember trophies - but we don't want Aston Villa to be a fleeting success

A man who very much practices his preaching about the importance of consistency, Villa’s boss isn’t afraid to go off-script if he feels the moment requires it.

Last Friday night at Molineux, around 10 minutes or so after the final whistle had blown on a 2-0 defeat which ranked among the worst results of his reign, was certainly one of those.

“The manager doesn’t really like to speak too much after games,” explains Tyrone Mings. “But I felt he thought at that point it was important to mention we had not won at Wolves in any of the other seasons he had been at the club but we still achieved our goals.

“He knew the performance was not a good one, the result was not a good one and it was a good time to speak and add some reason to the emotion.

“Understandably, there were a lot of upset players in the dressing room, knowing what the game meant in the context of our season but also to the fans. 

“We fell below that and the manager let us know we will fix it on the training pitch, fix it in the next game.”

That next game, at home to Chelsea on Wednesday night, now ranks as comfortably the biggest of Villa’s season to date.

Victory would leave Emery’s men with almost one foot already in next season’s Champions League, nine points ahead of their rivals with only nine matches to play.

Defeat, by contrast, would further intensify fears a season which at one stage was threatening the extraordinary, as Villa closed in on leaders Arsenal, might ultimately end in failure.

“Ultimately that is what we will be judged on,” says Mings. “Where do we finish after being in such a good position for such a large part of the season? 

“If we had been 17th or 18th for most of it and finished sixth, people would presume that was a good season. 

“If we had been third all season and finished sixth, they would have a slightly different view.

“Obviously, we want to finish in the Champions League spots. That is what we would deem a success.”

As the season approaches its climax the pressure builds, there is no-one in the Villa dressing room better than Mings to offer a sense of perspective.

There isn’t much he hasn’t seen in seven years at the club, whether it be record winning runs, Great Escapes from relegation, surges into the European positions or recoveries from career-threatening injuries.

Out of the eight campaigns he has finished as a Villa player, this could be the sixth which goes down to the wire. No-one knows better the importance of keeping a cool head in the spring.

“I think the subplots, at this point of the season, always make for interesting headlines,” he says. 

“If you lose a game now it is catastrophic because of the ramifications for Champions League qualification.