Shropshire Star

Dean Smith: More to come from Aston Villa

Dean Smith has promised there is much more to come from Villa after an ‘indifferent’ start to the season.

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Yesterday’s 2-1 defeat at Tottenham left Villa sitting 10th in the Premier League with three wins, three defeats and a draw from their first seven matches.

Smith’s men had travelled to north London in confident mood as they aimed to follow up victory at Manchester United but struggled to find their rhythm.

The boss said: “We’ve had an indifferent start. I’ve been really pleased with the last four games, winning two and losing two but our performances against Chelsea and Tottenham probably deserved more. There hasn’t been too much between ourselves, Chelsea and Tottenham. We all still feel there’s an awful lot to come from us. We’re not firing on all cylinders yet.”

Ollie Watkins netted his first goal of the season to bring Villa level after Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg had opened the scoring but Matt Targett’s own goal saw the hosts claim a deserved win.

Smith continued: “It feels like it got away from us. It is a disappointment. I didn’t think there was too much between the teams.

“We were brave going one v one against Son (Heung-Min) and felt we could handle that. But he twisted Kortney (Hause) and put a ball in the box and they got on the end of it.

“We huffed and puffed after that but there wasn’t much in the game. We had some good moments in the penalty box without them turning into really good chances. It just wasn’t to be today.”