Dean Smith: Aston Villa won't surrender in Manchester City chess match
Dean Smith is promising no surrender from Villa as he prepares for a tactical chess match with “Grandmaster” Pep Guardiola tomorrow.
The Villa boss is relishing the prospect of pitting his wits against the Catalan when reigning champions Manchester City visit in the Premier League.
Smith admits getting the better of Guardiola is no easy task but remains optimistic Villa, who head into the match off the back of an encouraging performance at Leicester in the Carabao Cup, can cause a shock.
He explained: “Pep’s teams are always trying to create overloads. Try and block the middle of the pitch and they’ll try and create overloads on the outside.
“Try and block the outside and they’ll create overloads on the inside.
“You are always having a constant game of chess with them and obviously Pep is a better chess player than I am at the moment. So I’m looking forward to the game but I certainly won’t be knocking my King over!”
Smith does not buy the notion City are a fading force despite Guardiola’s team having lost five times already in the top flight this season.
Instead he believes the fact they trail leaders Liverpool by 14 points potentially makes things tougher for opponents.
He explained: “It probably makes it worse that they’ve got to win every game. Their mentality, whatever gave they go into is to win.
“Mine is the same – you’ve got to try to win football games. It’s the style I see from Manchester City that I love watching.
“Watching them, their level doesn’t seem to have dropped at all. Liverpool have stepped up and City are still fighting with them.
“Although 13 or 14 points behind they’ll still have that belief or hope that Liverpool can fail and they can catch them. It’s getting harder and harder for them.”
With Jonathan Kodjia still struggling with illness and Keinan Davis having suffered a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury, Anwar El Ghazi is again likely to be utilised as a makeshift striker.
Smith was non-committal when asked whether Kodjia, who is yet to start in the Premier League, would still be at the club come the end of January.
For the moment Villa’s focus is on bolstering their forward line but while they are pursuing a number of targets, no deals are close.
