Leicester vs Aston Villa - Match preview
Tyrone Mings claims the pain of defeat at Wolves earlier this month should motivate Villa for tomorrow’s trip to Leicester.
Villa head to the King Power Stadium for their second Midlands clash in three weeks, aiming to halt a run of four straight defeats which has seen them plunge to 15th in the Premier League table.
The third of those losses was a 2-1 reverse at Molineux and though it was followed by a 4-0 thumping from Tottenham for Steven Gerrard’s team, skipper Mings reckons the experience is still raw.
He said: “We are coming off the back of a really poor Wolves result. While this is not a direct derby (at Leicester) it is still one we want to win and is important to the fans.
“If we want to be the time at the forefront and setting the standard in the Midlands, these are the games we have to win.
“I know Wolves wasn’t the last game but it was recent enough for us to be hurting from it. The performance wasn’t anywhere near where it should have been. The level of commitment, desire and fight was nowhere near where it should have been.
“The players who were involved in that and have a level of pride at playing for this club have to be hurting from that. The only way to put it right is to go out and put in a good performance against Leicester.”
Mings admitted the last fortnight had seen a lot of soul-searching among players.
“It’s been a real difficult time,” he said. “When you lose a game you just want to get back out there and play and put things right. When you watch teams around you playing and picking up points it makes it even more frustrating.
“We know where we are in the table right now isn’t where we want to be, or good enough or where the club expects to be.
“It is not the case a couple of good wins and we get back to where we want to be and we can relax again. Our focus is just on the games we have remaining and trying to win as many and finish as high as possible. Then we can look at the end of the season and decide how we review the season as a whole.
“What did we do well? What didn’t we do well? How could we have done better? Taking a broader view.
“There has to be a personal pride, especially for the players who were here last season. We finished 11th so we want to finish higher than that. Any steps up the table toward improvement is not to be sniffed at.
“If we finish above that this season I think that represents progress again. It probably isn’t as much progress as people would like but with the way teams are improving and competing in this league, it needs a few games to go on a run and then you are right back where you want to be.”
Ashley Young is in line to replace the injured Lucas Digne (collarbone) at left-back while midfielder Marvelous Nakamba could make his first appearance since December.
