Express & Star

Matt Maher: Ridiculed and written off, now Dean Smith may have the last laugh with Aston Villa

Villa might have left it late and their Premier League survival remains far from secure, yet over the past week and-a-half they have shown a mental fortitude most didn’t think existed.

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Written off as relegated when they sat seven points from safety, Dean Smith’s team have erased the deficit in the space of just three matches at a time when the pressure was at its greatest.

When examining reasons for their dramatic resurgence, it is hard to look too far beyond the head coach, a man who not for the first time in his career has demonstrated why it is always dangerous to write him or his teams off.

Smith raised eyebrows and even risked ridicule by maintaining an upbeat demeanour when Villa took just two points from their first six matches back and sank deeper into the relegation mire.

Yet the doubts which existed among the fanbase and the media, it is clear now, did not extend to the dressing room, where players instead kept believing in the plan.

Slowly – some might say in the nick of time – the hard work undertaken during lockdown has begun to bear fruit.

Villa, already a far more compact and organised defensive unit post-lockdown, have found just enough of a goal threat over the last few matches to eke out wins over Crystal Palace and Arsenal. Smith’s patience and perseverance appears to be finally paying off.

There the plaudits can end, for now. Smith and his players do not need telling the task is far from finished. The margins between survival and relegation remain painfully small and Villa’s fate is not entirely in their own hands.

Villa, for instance, will hope Arsenal are sufficiently wounded after Tuesday’s defeat to put up a far better showing against Watford, who are just one goal worse off in the standings.

Neither can Bournemouth be entirely written off. The Cherries have been largely hapless since the season resumed, their only win handed to them on a plate by Leicester after one of the most extraordinary implosions the Premier League has seen in years.

Yet if Villa and Watford both slip up, victory at Everton would be enough to launch Eddie Howe’s team to safety. As unlikely as such a scenario might seem on current form, the season’s final day has history for throwing up the unexpected.

Villa have the benefit of momentum and renewed belief, but for 90 more minutes they must continue to hold their nerve.