Dean Smith: Chelsea will have to fight for top four at Aston Villa

Just under 10 months after avoiding relegation on a nail-biting final day at West Ham, Villa will complete their second campaign back in the Premier League with the pressure all on their opponents.

Chelsea, who face Manchester City in the Champions League final next weekend, arrive in the Midlands knowing only a win will guarantee a top-four finish and a place next season’s competition.

But they will meet a Villa team buoyed by Wednesday’s impressive 2-1 win at Tottenham and eager to impress the 10,000 supporters in the stands, in what will be their first home match in front of a crowd for more than 15 months.

Smith said: “We have many motivating factors and we certainly won’t be lying down. We will be going all out to win the game.

“We know how important it is to finish with momentum. We did it last year and ended up winning our first four games this season, which set us up nicely.

“We will be going all out to try to beat Chelsea. We know they are a very good team, very well coached. But we have shown over the last five or six matches we are capable of fighting with anyone.

“Chelsea are a very tough team and we have to go and match their levels. I believe we can do that and the players will believe we can as well.”

For all that Smith and his players are looking forward to welcoming back both supporters and their own families to the ground, for Villa the era of behind closed doors matches can only be looked back on as one of considerable progress.

When they trudged off the pitch having lost 4-0 defeat at Leicester in the last match played with their own fans present, Smith was battling to save his job and his team apparently destined for the Championship. Since then, for the most part, the only way has been up.

“I think we’ve made the best of what’s been a real tough period,” admitted Smith.

“We’ve had some great results and performances along the way and some indifferent ones as well.

“That’s the life of football and our job now is to make sure we keep progressing as a club.”

After Sunday, the focus will quickly shift into how best to maintain the upward trajectory. For Villa, who are now cemented into an 11th-placed finish, recruitment during the summer transfer window will again be key.

“We finished six places higher than last season with only four permanent additions which I feel is certainly progress,” said Smith.

“Obviously we have been disappointed with the second half of the season in terms of the indifference in our performances and results. It has coincided with losing our best player, Jack Grealish, for 12 games as well.

“We just have to be more consistent for a whole season. Halfway through the season before we had the Covid outbreak we were right up there competing with the top six or eight and had games in hand.

“Those games in hand were against Man City, Tottenham and Everton. But being consistent is the key to it.

“We have to make sure the players keep improving, the team keep improving and we, as a coaching staff, keep improving.

“If that happens then we are bound to climb places in the league next year and that’s what we aim to do.”

Grealish is set to make his second start in five days after playing 73 minutes in the win at Spurs but loanee Ross Barkley’s season is over, as he cannot face his parent club.

Teenagers Carney Chukwuemeka and Jaden Philogene-Bidace will again be in the squad after making their senior debuts off the bench in midweek.

“We have a really good group of players here,” continued Smith. “The most pleasing thing for me over the season has been seeing that togetherness and mentality of the group and how they want to keep improving.

“We have to concentrate on ourselves, first and foremost. Our organisation and our defensive display on Wednesday was more of what I’ve been accustomed to this season.

“More of that is what I want to see from us on Sunday. The players set their standards and they need to finish the season off well.”