Dean Smith opens up on "scary" Aston Villa coronavirus outbreak

Bodymoor Heath was closed for 10 days after nine players and 14 members of staff in total tested positive and Smith described the speed at which the virus spread as ‘really frightening’.

Villa resume their season at Manchester City on Wednesday, having seen matches against Tottenham and Everton postponed while their entire first-team bubble, including Smith, went into isolation.

Smith said: “It was very scary. We produced total negative tests on New Year’s Eve and then played Manchester United.

“We got tested again on January 3 and there were nine positives. That raised an alarm straight away. We got tested the following day and got another five positive tests after that.

“Our bubble had been compromised. We don’t know how as we followed the protocols.

“It was really frightening. Every time you got tested you’re waiting on your nerves to have that test result come through to see whether you’ve tested positive or not. Every time we got tested it seemed somebody else was getting it.

“You do worry. But we have come through the other side of it now and I am thankful for the quick work of the doctor and the other medical staff who have helped us.”

Villa’s time out of action coincided with a wider debate over whether the season should be paused and Smith welcomed the tougher protocols introduced by the Premier League, aimed at combating the rising number of positive tests among players.

But despite now having first-hand experience of an outbreak, Smith believes the sport has a duty to carry on if it can.

“I believe the season should continue,” he said. “We knew there were going to be changes to fixtures and we were going into unchartered territory. We all knew what we were going in for.

“We are in a very privileged position. I have had to bear 10 days of self-isolation and it was not a problem, knowing there are a lot of people who have not been out of their house since last March.

“We understand the position we are in. It is a football country and people want to see their teams playing games. If we can keep that show on the road, I think we should.”

Only one of the players who tested positive has been entirely ruled out of tonight’s match, while Villa will also welcome back Ross Barkley after nearly two months out with a hamstring injury.

Yet Smith conceded it was tough to fully evaluate fitness levels in his squad with Villa only training properly for the first time on Monday.

The trip to the Etihad, to face a City team who will go top of the table if they can extend a five-match winning run, is the first of five matches in 14 days.

Smith said: "A lot of the players, and staff, were asymptomatic but some symptoms crept up on people.

"I told one of the players that he'd had a positive test and he felt fine, he said ‘no chance, I'm in a good place’ - two days later when I spoke to him he was lying in bed with aches and pains.

"The hard part from now is to evaluate their recovery because we've only got a three-day build-up to the game. But that's no excuse, we're really looking forward to the game.

"We've had an awful lot of players who have not had any Covid at all, who have had ten days of rest which other Premier League players haven't had.

“We certainly feel we are in a good place. We had to try and treat this time for the lads who hadn’t contracted coronavirus as a chance for them to rest as well.

“Some players have played an awful lot of games internationally and not had much of a break. So it’s the winter break we never got.

“The players that I’ve got here have got that hunger and desire to play football games.”