Matt Targett: Aston Villa are not giving up
Matt Targett has promised Villa aren’t ready to give up on their survival bid despite suffering a ‘kick in the teeth’ at Everton.
Theo Walcott’s late equaliser meant the visitors were forced to settle for a point as they missed the chance to close the gap to safety.
Villa may now need to win both of their remaining matches, against Arsenal and West Ham, to avoid relegation to the Championship.
But Targett insists players are still up for the fight, as they prepare to host the Gunners on Tuesday,
“At least we took something (from Everton). It wasn’t three points but we’ve got two games left and we’re still in the race.
“The team won’t give up and we’ll give it our all against Arsenal. Defensively we’ve been better but I still think we can be more clinical up front. That has been our problem for most of the season.”
Villa went ahead with 18 minutes remaining thanks to Ezri Konsa’s first Premier League goal, but Anwar El Ghazi then missed a glorious chance to seal the win, before Walcott struck.
Targett said: “It was a real kick in the teeth. We defended so well up until the goal.
“We had one massive chance with El Ghazi to make it 2-0 and kill the game off. We didn’t score and the last 10 minutes we were just hanging on.
“If you get the second goal it kills the game off. There have been so many games we could have done that but haven’t.
“Then again, we concede too many goals. Walcott got in at the back post and maybe I could have done better.”
