Aston Villa boss Dean Smith driven by desire to prove the doubters wrong

Should Villa emerge from Sunday’s match at West Ham still above the Premier League’s dreaded dotted line, it will represent perhaps the most remarkable turnaround in a managerial career which has seen its share of them.

Smith first signalled his potential in the dugout by digging Walsall out of a seemingly impossible position in 2011, while Villa claimed promotion through the play-offs last season despite sitting in the bottom half of the Championship as late as March.

Yet neither was quite so dramatic as this. It is only a fortnight since Villa sat seven points adrift of safety and with only four matches to play, Smith knows there were few giving his team a chance.

“I know after the Manchester United match everyone thought we were relegated and were speaking about a Championship season,” he said.

“We have taken seven points – and it should have been nine – from the last three games and we’re above the line. We understand what we have to do.

“My biggest drive in football is always to prove people wrong. When you walk into any football club – and for me it’s been Walsall, Brentford and Aston Villa – you won’t have 100 per cent of the supporters and everybody to do with the football club wishing you well.

“Because some people will have wanted somebody else. I get that, you can’t always please everyone.

“So my job has always been to prove the doubters wrong and hopefully to use that as a driving force. That’s always done me well and I feel it’s done the players well too.”

Villa’s resurgence over the past three matches owes everything to Smith holding his nerve and keeping faith in his methods. Any doubts which existed after a return of just two points from the first six matches after the season’s resumption did not extend to a dressing room now more tight-knit after a hectic run-in.

Smith has turned Bodymoor Heath into a tournament base, with players staying over before and after matches. Debriefs following evening fixtures have regularly taken place at 1am, with the time spent together further strengthening bonds developed during lockdown, when the head coach held regular Zoom meetings with his squad.

Many of those were with a defence which, while still not exactly watertight, has become a far more formidable unit than the one conceding an average of two goals-a-game before the pandemic struck.

“When we came back we had an agreed plan of what we wanted to do,” said Smith. “When it’s an agreed plan I can go and nail someone and say ‘hang on, you agreed to this’ that’s certainly what we did. The lads have bought into that.

“Mentally they have been in a really good place since we have come back.

“We knew we would be better than we were when we trudged off that pitch at Leicester. We have come back in a better place. We feel our performances should have got more points than they have done. We are thankful we have got the results over the last three games but even before then, we thought we were playing well.”

It should come as no surprise to learn Smith is not about about to change tack now. For the third season running, Villa enter the final match with everything on the line but preparations will be as kept as close to normal as possible.

Smith said: “The message will be no different to what it was before the Arsenal game, go out and win the game. Defensively be strong, show your personalities on the ball.

“They’ve been a really resilient bunch, it’s been a tough period, 10 games in such a short space of time.

“We know what we have to go and do. It’s great to be above the line now but we want to be above the line come the end of the game on Sunday.”

FINAL DAY PERMUTATIONS

Villa’s fate is not entirely in their own hands on Sunday but Dean Smith’s team are very much in the driving seat.

Victory over West Ham at the London Stadium would leave Watford, who visit Arsenal, needing to better Villa’s result by two or more goals.

Villa, who have a superior goal difference and have scored more goals this season, only need to match the Hornets result to finish above them.

Yet Bournemouth, three points adrift, are still not out of the running. Should Villa and Watford lose, the Cherries can jump above both by winning at Everton.

Smith will tell his players to focus only on what they can control but admitted he and his coaching staff will be kept informed of events elsewhere during the course of the afternoon.

He said: “We understand what we have to do, but we have to be mindful of what’s happening at other games.

“We saw in the Championship the other day what can happen and we’ll have some ‘what if’ scenarios in the final 15 minutes.

“That’s why we love the game, it can be so random at times – we have to control what we can control and that’s our performance. And if we do what we’ve done over the last month and control our performances, then we’ve got a really good chance.”

Ahmed Elmohamady has been ruled out with a hamstring injury, but Smith is hopeful Neil Taylor could be back available.

Winger Jarrod Bowen is a doubt for West Ham, who secured their own safety with Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at Manchester United.