Ice cool Dean Smith admits his wife is too stressed to watch Aston Villa's nail-biting survival fight

Ice cool Smith has no fears of losing his own nerve as Villa look to secure their top flight status at West Ham on Sunday.

But the same cannot be said for his family, with Smith revealing wife Nicola is currently too nervous to even watch.

“I was told when I went into management you won’t sleep much but I sleep very well,” he said.

“Unfortunately, I sleep better than the wife, who seems to be the one who bears the brunt of the pressure and stress levels.

“I don’t think she’s watched any of the last six games. My daughter has to tell her what’s going on with an alert on the phone!

“They have to deal with it. They’re part of the reason why I do this and enjoy it so much. I think we all do things for our family, don’t we?”

Villa were written off when they sat seven points adrift of safety a fortnight ago but Smith never panicked and an escape is now very much on.

And he said: “I enjoy pressure, I must admit. It sounds absurd but I don’t mind it.

“A lot of managers talk about the week and the training and I love that, but match day is the be-all and end-all for me.

“That’s what gets my juices flowing. I love match day. That’s where everything you’ve prepared comes to an end and you have to go and perform under pressure.

“The players do and we do as coaching staff as well. I enjoy it and I’ve been doing it for quite a while now and I feel I’m fairly good at it. But you can get better, that’s for sure.”