Jack Grealish: Aston Villa's top two dream not dead yet

Back-to-back defeats for the first time since August mean Steve Bruce’s side have only eight games to erase a seven-point deficit to second-placed Cardiff.

But Grealish, who has starred for Villa during the second half of the campaign, believes there is still time to make up the ground.

“A gap of seven points is tough. Having said that, we’re all still positive and know anything can happen,” he said.

“What’s happened to us will probably happen elsewhere – those kinds of results. Fulham dropped points when people weren’t expecting them to on the weekend. It’ll happen to Cardiff at some point. It’s happened to Wolves.

“All we can do is bounce back (in our next game) against Hull. We’ve got eight games to go and if we win six or seven of those we’ve still got a good chance of automatic promotion. It’s down to us to put it right now.”

Grealish claims the play-offs would hold no fear for Villa, should they miss out on the top two.

He added: “We want to go up automatically, of course. But if it’s play-offs, then we’ll have to get on with it and try and see the job through.

“The gaffer remains positive, too. He’s been there and done it a number of times.

“No one knows what’s going to happen. Some of our rivals have difficult run-ins after the international break.

“I’m still backing us to achieve our season aim – promotion.”