Only Tottenham have outplayed Aston Villa so far, insists Dean Smith
Friday 27 September 2019 16:45, UK
Aston Villa manager Dean Smith says only Tottenham have outplayed his side so far, six games into the Premier League season.
Villa are currently third-from-bottom going into Saturday's game against Burnley but Smith feels that position is a "harsh" reflection on his side's early-season form.
Despite only picking up one league win against Everton at home, Smith insists only Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs have been better than them.
"We look at the eight games we have played this season and only Tottenham have been better than us," he said.
"In all the games that we have played so far we have been very competitive, a couple of mistakes let us down against Bournemouth.
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"At Villa Park we have been good, apart from the mistakes against Bournemouth. We played well against Everton and we played well against West Ham - a good West Ham team who went and beat Manchester United just after that.
"On the road we haven't got the points that we deserved. Sometimes that has been down to us but sometimes it has been something that is out of our control."
Villa, undone by two late goals in a 3-2 defeat at Arsenal last week, play Burnley, Norwich (away) and Brighton (home) in their next three matches, but Smith says he has not targeted them as must-win fixtures.
"We don't isolate games like that. We're just concentrating on Burnley," he added.
"Every game that we've gone into we've had a belief we can go and win and I think we've seen we could probably have won more than we have.
"We've got a great belief in what we're doing and Burnley is our next game. Our 100 per cent concentration is on that game."
Villa will still be without Henri Lansbury (ankle), James Chester (hamstring), and Jonathan Kodjia at the weekend.
Smith revealed forward Kodjia, who fractured a cheekbone when accidentally clashing with team-mate Marvelous Nakamba during training earlier this month, had a mask fitted on Wednesday and could return to contention next weekend.
