With Aston Villa securing their Play-Off spot for the Championship campaign of 2018/19 after a remarkable turn in form that has seen us make history at the club with ten straight wins on the spin, it’s all eyes to Leeds United this weekend as we make the trip to Elland Road.
With fans debating whether or not Jack Grealish and John McGinn should be given a bye this Sunday, we do have players returning to fitness so options should be well stocked for the Play-Off battles that lie ahead, but head coach Dean Smith has admitted he’s looking no further than Leeds at the moment because he’d like to achieve something else before the regular season comes to an end.
Speaking to the Official Site as he met with the media on Thursday afternoon ahead of the game, Smith confirmed that he wants to ‘finish above’ West Bromwich Albion to make a decent season even better for us.
“I’m not thinking about Play-Offs at the moment – I’ve got to plan for Leeds United on Sunday. My concentration is on that and the fact we’re two points behind West Bromwich Albion. We want to finish above them if we can. We’ll have more of an idea come the game on Sunday about whether we can do that. But generally speaking the plans remain the same. There’s rules in place now about fielding much-changed teams. For sure, we have to manage the loads of some players. We’ll do that and try and keep winning.”
Given the summer we had, and the season, the strong finish has been a joy to behold but eeking above West Brom would be utterly delightful if we can manage it.
