Dean Smith not afraid to change Aston Villa tactics

Villa have beaten Everton and Manchester United and also impressed in defeat at Chelsea since switching to a three-man defence this month.

But Smith does not see the system as a permanent fix as he explained: “I think in the last few games it has worked well but there will be times when we need to change it.”

Though the current tactics have allowed Smith to field both Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins, the boss admits there are times when the pair will be required to share the workload.

Neither has found the net since being paired together, with last season’s top scorer Watkins still searching for his first goal of the new campaign.

Smith said: “Danny and Ollie are maturing as a partnership at the moment. Neither of them have had their rewards in recent games in terms of goals but they have certainly worked hard for the team, enabling us to press from the front.

“There will be times when one of them won’t be playing. I think the big sign of our depth was the record signing coming on for the last 15 minutes.”