Aston Villa assistant boss Peter Grant confident of a better show at Swansea

Aston Villa assistant boss Peter Grant is confident the team can put an end to their away-day blues against Swansea despite recent criticism about their conservative approach.

The claret and blues meandered to a 2-0 loss against Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Monday as manager Alex McLeish opted for a cautious team selection, which included right-back Alan Hutton playing on the right wing.

McLeish's approach has been criticised by sections of Villa's support but Grant argued that they will do their best to pick up three points from every game, even it is not always possible to do so.

He said: "We go into every game looking to win whether we are at home or away. We know how difficult it is to win away from home, and not just for us but other teams as well.

"We went to Sunderland and lost a goal very late in the game when we should have held on to the lead and won the game. That was very disappointing.

"If you actually look at the statistics there aren't that many teams who win a lot of games away from home. I remember people saying if you pick up four or five victories then that's a good season.

"I used to scratch my head when I heard this and say 'what?' but if you look at a lot of teams – excluding your Liverpools and Manchester Uniteds of this world – then it is probably not far from the truth.

"So you have to be at your best and concentrate for the whole game because if you are not you will find it very difficult.

"If you look at all the stats – not just Villa – you see there is a parallel with everybody."

Grant revealed that Villa will check on the fitness of captain Stiliyan Petrov, who has a slight hamstring problem, ahead of the clash at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday but will not risk him unless he is 100 per cent fit to play.

The No 2 said: "Stiliyan came off with a slight hamstring problem. Hopefully he will feel confident enough to play but you have to be careful with that, especially in the hamstring area.

"Sometimes you can feel great and then you look deeper and find its more serious and you are out for six weeks or something.

"We can't afford, with the size of our squad, to have anyone out."