Aston Villa still close to Robert Snodgrass's heart

Villa remain close to the winger’s heart following his fine loan spell in the Midlands during the 2017/18 season, when he so nearly helped them clinch promotion out of the Championship under Steve Bruce.

Snodgrass was part of the team beaten by Fulham at Wembley in the play-off final.

One year on, he admits to having watched with delight as many of his former team-mates went one better under Dean Smith.

“I watched their second play-Off final in May with my whole family and we were cheering when they scored and when they won it,” he said.

“To see the smiles on all the Villa lads’ faces, I couldn’t have been happier.

“Their fans have had a tough time these last few years, but I think the connection between the players and fans has come back and it was only a matter of time before they got back up.”

Snodgrass was out of favour and facing an uncertain future under then Hammers boss Slaven Bilic when he headed out to Villa two years ago. There is every chance his move to B6 would have become a permanent one had promotion been secured under Bruce.

But under Manuel Pellegrini he is now very much back in the fold at the London Stadium, having appeared in 33 of the club’s 38 top flight fixtures last term.

This season there is talk of a genuine top six challenge and Snodgrass claims games like tonight are the kind they must win if that is to become a reality.

“We need to keep on winning football matches and need to bring different ideas to break these sorts of teams down,” he said.

“That’s the sign of a good team and what top teams do. If we want to go into that next bracket, we must find a way to beat Villa.”