Dean Smith: Aston Villa ready to fight for every point in Premier League survival scrap
Dean Smith has declared Villa prepared for the Premier League run-in and promised his team are ready to ‘battle and scrap’ for every remaining point.
The boss is predicting a strong finish to the season ahead of Villa’s return to action following the winter break.
Villa host Tottenham on Sunday sitting 17th in the table, just one point above the drop zone.
But Smith said: “If somebody had said to me at the start of the season that with 13 games to go we would be out of the relegation zone, we would be in a cup final, we would have more wins than Arsenal, then I’d have chopped their hands off.
“It’s a tough league, one in which it is difficult to build consistency because of the quality of the other teams in there. But I feel we’ve just started to build that consistency.”
Villa are looking to rebound from a disappointing defeat at Bournemouth prior to the break. Smith added: “We probably didn’t play the way I would have liked for the first half against Bournemouth, but watching the second half back we certainly didn’t deserve to lose the game.
“Consistency towards the end of the season is a great thing to have. We’ve had a big turnaround, everybody knows in the summer, and they’re starting to gel.
“I’m seeing real green shoots of recovery within the players and knowledge of how each other plays. I think we’ll finish the season well.”
