Aston Villa have the chance to make more history at Leeds

A 10-game winning run, which took them from mid-table obscurity to cementing a top-six finish with room to spare, has already set a club record for consecutive league victories.

Villa now have the chance to match the club’s best-ever run in all competitions, set across two seasons in 1897 which also included victory in an FA Cup final.

“I didn’t know about that one!” laughed Smith, during Thursday’s pre-match press conference.

“It would be some achievement but we’re playing a team fighting for second place in the table so I’ll be our toughest fixture so far.”

Whether Leeds are still fighting for second place by kick-off is dependent on how Sheffield United fare at home against Ipswich this afternoon.

Victory for the Blades would all but consign Marcelo Bielsa’s men to the play-offs and would also see a fixture moved to a Sunday noon kick-off only weeks ago for live TV coverage lose a considerable amount of lustre.

Smith’s target, for the moment, remains trying to catch rivals Albion – their most likely play-off opponents.

By the same token, he will be careful not to take too many risks with key players either tomorrow or in next Sunday’s finale at home to Norwich.

“There is always a balancing act to be carried out by any manager or head coach,” said Smith. “First and foremost mine is to make sure we finish as high as we can.

“The only way we can finish fourth is to go and try to beat Leeds on Sunday. Then we will review the situation after that.

“With one game to go it will become a lot clearer. For the moment we just have to look at the Leeds game.

“They have been fighting tooth and nail for second spot and I think they will still be battling away.

“That is the way Bielsa has got them playing. It has been a tremendous turnaround from last season to this.”

Villa have also been battling, with Smith this week revealing competitiveness in training has reached a level where players have at times gone “nose-to-nose”.

For several, the next two weeks offer a chance to remind the boss of their abilities before the real business begins.

Smith said: “It is probably the environment we have created here. We want to see winners and losers out on the training ground as well as on a Saturday.

“It makes for a healthy environment. The lads are enjoying that.

“Do I get in the middle of it? No. I let them do it. I am not going to get in the middle and catch one off them! I leave that to them. They are quite competitive but also reasonable. They know where the line is and sort it out themselves.”

Leeds have rarely been out of the top three all season and when they staged a remarkable comeback to win 3-2 at Villa Park in December, looked every inch a team ready to go on and claim automatic promotion.

But a nightmare Easter weekend, which saw back-to-back defeats to Wigan and Brentford, may now have put paid to those hopes.

Kemar Roofe, scorer of his team’s stoppage time winner at Villa, will miss tomorrow’s game with a hip injury.