Will Swansea crash Dean Smith's Villa Park welcome party?
It’s the dawn of a new era at Villa Park, where Dean Smith will be welcomed as new head coach following the dismissal of Steve Bruce, and the crowd will bid a fond farewell to former chairman Doug Ellis, who passed away last week.
The appointment of Smith - a boyhood Aston Villa fan - has been well received by the vast majority of supporters, and the ex-Brentford boss is already making his mark at the club. His assistant from both the Bees and Walsall, Richard O’Kelly, has followed him back to the Midlands, while former captain John Terry has joined the coaching staff as the club look to revive their fortunes in the Championship.
It seems likely that James Chester will wear the armband for this weekend’s upcoming visit of Swansea, but Smith has already stated that in a bid to foster a team of leader’s it is a responsibility that will be shared around on match days. Villa have lacked Terry’s leadership after all, with the new coach clearly keen to install a different mentality into a side that has conceded 20 goals in the league already - only Preston have shipped more.
Their visitors this Saturday have had no such problems at the back, conceding just nine times in 12 games, and the arrival of a new leader of their own in Grahame Potter has certainly had the desired effect in terms of the side’s defensive resolve. That’s despite losing Lukas Fabianski, Federico Fernandez and Alfie Mawson during the transfer window.
Erwin Mulder has stepped up to the plate in place of the former, boasting the second best save success rate in the division (83.3 per cent), while academy graduate Joe Rodon has been a revelation at centre-back, earning the side’s highest WhoScored.com rating (7.33).
As far as Villa and their new coach are concerned, the goalkeeping issue is one that needs addressing, with Orjan Nyland having struggled upon his arrival in England, while fellow newcomer Andre Moreira has not been utilised in the league following a shaky debut in the League Cup.
To be fair to both, the protection ahead of them has been desperately poor at times, and the return of Chester from suspension is a timely one as far as Smith is concerned. Part of his predecessor’s downfall was fielding players out of position, particularly at the back, so it will be interesting to see whether the new man shares Bruce’s faith in the fact that Mile Jedinak is best served as a centre-back in the twilight of his career.
Villa fielded a different back four in each of their last four matches under the previous manager, and a different keeper twice, so establishing the best defence will be the best way to ensure Villa get the most of their enviable attack. Tammy Abraham, Jonathan Kodjia and Scott Hogan are all fit and in contention, while Yannick Bolasie will also hope for a first league start having been eased into action so far.
Consistency has been the problem for both teams so far, with both teams looking to bounce back from defeats last time out. However, with six clean sheets to their hosts’ one, Swansea will be hoping to crash the party in front of a full house at Villa Park, with the Swans winning each of the last five meetings between the sides back where both are desperate to be heading - the Premier League.
