Aston Villa’s stance on Premier League comeback outlined by boss Dean Smith

Aston Villa boss Dean Smith has insisted his team wants to end their remaining games this season if it’s safe to do so.

Last year’s Championship playoff winners are in the bottom three in the Premier League and battling relegation.

However, they do have a game on hand with their rivals, which could move them from 19th to 16th in the table, and crucially out of the drop zone.

The Premier League club bosses will meet on Friday to discuss next steps to potentially resume the season, although six sides at the bottom of the table are not in favor.

But Smith made it clear that his Villa team is not one of those who oppose the proposals.

He told Sky Sports: “From the executives, so they tell me that we have to be led by the government right now, so there are a lot of hypothetical questions out there.”

“Until we get the government’s guidance on how they want to get out of this blockade, there are many more questions than answers.”

“We all want to end the season, we want to pay for the games, we have 10 left, obviously an extra one from the Carabao Cup race. If we win that game, we are out of the last three.”

“We think we have enough to get out of there, but there are many questions to answer.”

Above Villa are Bournemouth, Watford, West Ham and Brighton, with only Norwich chasing.

All those clubs are believed to be unhappy at the prospect of the season restarting in June, especially if the matches will be played in neutral venues.

Brighton Chief Executive Paul Barber has been particularly vocal on this subject, as the Seagulls had to play four of the league’s great teams, all of which were slated to take place at home.

Barber said on the Brighton Club official website: “Clearly, we all need to be prepared to accept some compromises, and we fully appreciate why playing behind closed doors is very likely a necessary compromise to play our remaining games while continuing to fully support efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus to the government.

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“But at this critical point in the season, playing games in neutral locations has, in our opinion, the potential to have a material effect on the integrity of the competition.”

All Premier League clubs will have the opportunity to raise their concerns at Friday’s meeting, which will take place starting at 10:30 a.m., with a vote to follow later in the day.

A 14-6 margin is required for the Premier League to approve their proposals to resume the campaign.