Dean Smith claims high-flying Aston Villa will relish defining run of fixtures

Monday evening’s trip to Chelsea is the first of four matches against top half Premier League rivals, with Villa visiting Manchester United on New Year’s Day before hosting Tottenham and Everton next month.

With a third round FA Cup tie against Liverpool sandwiched in between, Smith knows his team have the chance to build on an excellent start which has seen them win eight of their opening 13 league matches.

He said: “These are exciting times. We feel we are in a good place in terms of performance.

“We have been playing well these last five games and we are really pleased with the performance levels we are getting from the players.

“Whether it is Chelsea, Southampton, Brighton or West Brom we are playing, we don't mind. We are just enjoying our football and we will continue to do that.”

Villa will be without Tyrone Mings at Stamford Bridge following the defender’s red card in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Crystal Palace.

Despite losing Mings shortly before half-time, Smith’s team still went on to record their third victory in four matches with second half goals from Kortney Hause and Anwar El Ghazi, added to Bertrand Traore’s early strike.

The latter will now be aiming for a big performance against Chelsea, the club where he made 16 first-team appearances after first joining as a teenager.

After leaving for Lyon in 2017, Traore returned to English football after Villa agreed to pay Lyon £19million for his services during the most recent transfer window.

After a slow start, the Burkina Faso international is beginning to find his stride with Saturday’s goal his second in as many matches.

Smith said; “I wouldn't have brought Bert to the football club if I didn't feel he had that hunger to succeed.

“He's had a couple of really productive seasons at Lyon. They changed shape and went with wing-backs which didn't perhaps suit his style.

“We managed to encourage him to come to Aston Villa and we believe in the player that we've got there.

“He'll get better, he wants to improve at the training ground. He's getting better. What he hasn't had - with Trezeguet and Jack (Grealish) productive in wide areas for us - is pitch time.

“But he's started to grow as a player. He makes space for himself. His all-round game (has improved). He's got a great game understanding tactically but he's got an eye for a goal as well. His whole game is growing.”

Villa will again be without Chelsea loan star Ross Barkley who, having missed the last five matches with a hamstring injury, is ineligible to face his parent club.