Aston Villa hunt Premier League road to success after midweek motorway hell

Dean Smith revealed how his team did not get back from Wednesday’s Carabao Cup win at Brighton until 2.30am the next morning, having fallen unlikely victims to the collapse of Thomas Cook.

Villa had planned to fly to the south coast after being drawn away to the Seagulls in the third round.

But the collapse of the travel giant meant they were unable to schedule a flight back from Gatwick Airport and had to travel by road instead, promptly becoming caught up in night closures on the M23 and M25.

“Wednesday was a great work-out and gave everyone a boost apart from the journey back,” explained Smith.

“We were going to fly but I think due to the repatriation of Thomas Cook customers we couldn’t fly back from Gatwick. I am not sure how many villages we actually went through. I know at one stage John McGinn said he thought Thomas Cook had shut the motorways as well!”

Fortunately, boss Smith had already factored a possible delay into Villa’s training schedule for the week, with players returning to Bodymoor Heath at 1pm on Thursday afternoon.

He added: “We thought ahead and took two coaches, there was a lot of room so the lads could have a lie down and a sleep on the way back. We had already planned it was going to be a late night so trained later at 1pm on Thursday.”

Villa were again without Henri Lansbury (ankle) and Jonathan Kodjia for today’s home clash with the Clarets.

Kodjia is back training with a mask on his face after suffering a fractured cheekbone earlier this month.

Smith quipped: "He looks like a superhero. I've told him not to go into any banks wearing it!"