Dean Smith confident Aston Villa will refocus on Premier League survival fight after cup heroics

Smith claimed he and his players had wasted little time on celebration in the wake of Tuesday’s thrilling semi-final win over Leicester before turning attentions to the Cherries, who sit two places and two points below 16th-placed Villa in the standings.

Saturday’s match is Villa’s last in a trio of consecutive clashes with other teams in the relegation dogfight.

Smith’s team, who took four points from fixtures with Brighton and Watford, head to the south coast knowing victory would further propel them away from the drop zone.

“I had to concentrate on Bournemouth straight away,” said the boss, when asked how long it had taken him to come down from the high of leading Villa to a major final.

“The fact there is a transfer window closing on Friday and a very important game on Saturday, it has not given me time to celebrate.

“The players will have enjoyed it but they know what is to come. They also know they have to go and perform on Saturday against Bournemouth.”

Smith does not intend to use the prospect of the March 1 final with Manchester City at Wembley as a carrot for his players.

“Each game should be a carrot to the players,” he replied. “We are in the Premier League and every game is big.

“We go Bournemouth, Tottenham and Southampton and then Manchester City in the cup final.

“Each game is big enough for them to be a carrot for the players who want to get into the team.”

With Danny Drinkwater back available, after being cup-tied on Tuesday, Smith faces a selection dilemma in midfield.

Yet comfortably his biggest headache is who to play in goal, following Orjan Nyland’s heroics in helping Villa to Wembley.

Pepe Reina, who replaced the Norwegian for the previous two Premier League matches after joining on loan from AC Milan, returned to training on Wednesday after a week out with a tight calf.

Smith would not be moved when asked who will get the nod at the Vitality Stadium.

“Orjan’s come in after Tom Heaton’s injury and unfortunately came up against a very good Manchester City team and I left him out of the next game,” he said.

“Pepe’s come in and done very well. Orjan was fantastic on Tuesday and the decision’s down to me where we go on Saturday.

“It’s a very big game, but no bigger than the ones against Brighton, Watford and Burnley. Our season will be defined by playing the teams around us.

“Bournemouth are an established Premier League team now. We’ve got to make sure we have a consistency in our performances now.

“It’s very easy to have the highs of reaching a cup final in front of 40,000 fans, and then go to a smaller ground. We’ve got to make sure there’s no complacency on our part.

“Our role as a team and a squad is to get out of that group of five at the bottom of the table.

“You can only do that by performing and getting results.”