Villa chief calls for derby focus

Against Manchester City and Chelsea they opted to play attacking systems, and lost both games, whilst turning out against Watford and Southampton saw poor football with no goal threat – but both games ended in draws. That’s what it’s really about, two teams going head to head and giving it everything.

Aston Villa (from): Guzan, Bunn, Hutton, Bacuna, Clark, Lescott, Richards, Amavi, Crespo, Richardson, Westwood, Gueye, Cole, Grealish, Sinclair, Gil, Sanchez, N’Zogbia, Veretout, Agbonlahor, Traore, Kozak, Gestede, Ayew.

The Baggies have not won at Villa Park since April 2011.

Tim Sherwood’s men have not won since their opening-day victory over Bournemouth, with three of their subsequent four matches ending in defeat.

Whether this is just the case of adjusting to life without their key duo of Fabian Delph and Christian Benteke, who left in the summer transfer window or that their signings are still adjusting to the Premier League.

But despite coming through 90 minutes for Villa’s U21 side recently, Sherwood admits it’s a little too early to play him in the Premier League.

So far this season, the Baggies have looked like a disjointed side, who are unable to complete a full game with a defined tactical plan.

It wasn’t easy at the beginning, I had to get used to many new things and so did she and I’ve changed lots and lots of nappies!

“It’s a question of getting their creative players to do a bit more – getting them to step up”. They are also barred from and must not attend any regulated football fixture.

It is now just one win in five League games after finishing 17th last term but boss Sherwood insists his young side is making progress after spending £40million bringing in 11 players.

Villa face their local rivals at Villa Park on Saturday looking to bounce back from a dramatic 3-2 defeat to Leicester City last weekend – a match in which they allowed a two-goal lead to slip in the second half. Yet, the underlying importance these matches carry for the fans and the club could see the start of Villa’s rise up the table.