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Dean Smith: 'We must show more personality in relegation battle'

Dean Smith: 'We must show more personality in relegation battle'
© Reuters
Villa are a point from safety heading into Sunday's game at Anfield.

Dean Smith has called on Aston Villa to express themselves as they fight to avoid Premier League the relegation.

The strugglers go to new champions Liverpool on Sunday third bottom and a point from safety.

Smith's side are winless since the top flight restarted last month with six games left to avoid an immediate return to the Sky Bet Championship.

Villa have scored the most goals out of the bottom four, although talisman Jack Grealish has not netted since January, and Smith wants to see more character.

"We have total belief and total determination," he said.

"The mental strength and belief is there, I want them to show more personality on the ball.

"They are representing themselves, their families, the rest of their team-mates and what we're missing at the moment is the fans.

"They (the players) feel like they're in a better place than when the break started.

"We've restricted three top-eight teams to very few chances, so defensively we are in a good place, but we need to have better quality in the final third.

"The lads aren't too disheartened because they know that they've played well, we've certainly defended better, we just have to put our chances away."

Liverpool lost 4-0 at Manchester City on Thursday, their first game after being crowned champions.

They have won every top-flight game at Anfield this season and Smith does not expect any let-up from Liverpool despite finally winning their first title in 30 years.

"I'll think we will see similar to what we have seen week in, week out," he told a press conference.

"They will be a little bit sore from getting beaten 4-0, but we know that their attitude is going to be there.

"I saw it as he (Jurgen Klopp) did – they had as many chances as Manchester City and their attitude was spot on.

"We have a chance, we made Liverpool work really hard (a late 2-1 defeat at Villa Park) and we were three minutes away from getting the victory ourselves."

Matt Targett is out after picking up a hamstring injury in the 1-0 defeat against Wolves with Ezri Konsa struggling with a foot problem.

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2Manchester CityMan City36267391335885
3Liverpool372310484414379
4Aston Villa37208976562068
5Tottenham HotspurSpurs361961171591263
6Newcastle UnitedNewcastle361761379572257
7Chelsea361691173611257
8Manchester UnitedMan Utd36166145256-454
9West Ham UnitedWest Ham371410135971-1252
10Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton361212125458-448
11Bournemouth37139155365-1248
12Crystal Palace371210155258-646
13Wolverhampton WanderersWolves37137175063-1346
14Fulham37128175159-844
15Everton37139153949-1040
16Brentford37109185461-739
17Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest3789204766-1929
18Luton TownLuton3768235081-3126
RBurnley3759234076-3624
RSheffield UnitedSheff Utd37372735101-6616


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