The Athletic’s Aston Villa correspondent Gregg Evans has claimed that Dean Smith must pick up a result against Chelsea or risk the sack, per the 1874 podcast (March 12th, 12:00).
What’s he said?
The Villans are currently marooned in the bottom three and lie 19th in the Premier League table, two points away from safety.
They lost to Leicester City on Monday, going down 4-0, their fourth successive league defeat, following beatings by AFC Bournemouth, Tottenham Hotspur, and Southampton. They also lost the Carabao Cup final to Manchester City.
And Evans has claimed that Smith is nearing the sack ahead of a tough run of fixtures; Villa face Chelsea on Saturday before games against Wolves, Liverpool, and Manchester United.
He said: “You know we’ve not got Dean Smith, ahead of the Chelsea game with potentially one game to save his job. It’s my understanding that he needs a result really.
“I mean we’re at a stage now where it will be six defeats on the bounce if they lose to Chelsea, and there’s a 20-day period without a game.
“Look, I want Dean Smith to stay and I believe he can still turn this around.
“But I just think if they lose on Saturday and with that 20-day gap, I think if the owners want to get rid of him that will be the point they’ll do it.”
Baptism by fire
If they do take the step that Evans is talking about, Villa’s prospective new manager could well be given a baptism by fire.
They face three teams in the top eight in the coming weeks and their remaining fixtures are against Crystal Palace, Everton, Arsenal, and West Ham United.
It is a remarkably tough task for any manager to guide a team to survival with such a fixture list and one has to feel that Smith is surely the best placed man to guide his side through.
>Red Herring or Real Hero: Only hardcore Villa fans will get all of them right….
He knows the squad inside out and he won’t need to get to know the players or potentially formulate a completely new tactic.
Results haven’t been great, of course, but changing the manager at this point would potentially cause more issues than it would solve.
Owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens would do well to remember that.
Meanwhile, Villa fans have drooled over this star!
