Derby card will bring a derby ban for Jack!
JACK Grealish is keen to ensure he’s not suspended for the big derby with Blues.
The Villa attacker, who scored and provided an assist in the victory over Bolton last week, is wary of his precarious disciplinary situation.
The 23-year-old has played the last five matches with four bookings to his name and knows another – against Derby on Saturday – would rule him out of the fixture at Villa Park on Sunday, November 25.
“They are all big games, you don’t get any easy games in this league, every game is a tough game, if you are playing someone at the bottom it’s a tough game,” said Grealish.
“We are just going to take each game as it comes. For me personally, I need not to get another yellow card, I have got one left now for about another four or five games, that’s my aim.”
Asked about the impending visit of Blues, he said: “That’s the one I am looking forward to the most.”
Villa will play host to the Championship’s highest gate of the season after confirming every seat has been sold for the Blues clash. Almost 41,500 fans will be inside Villa Park, to eclipse the 41,336 crowd who witnessed Dean Smith’s first match in charge against Swansea City.
And Grealish has a close affinity with his new boss – and reckons it’s already paying off on the pitch.
Grealish’s love for the club, as a player who once watched his beloved Villa from the stands, is unbridled and well-documented.
It was a big reason why he didn’t hanker for a move in the summer when Premier League giants Tottenham came calling.
And now he’s not the only one with claret and blue coursing through his veins.
Smith, who was appointed as Steve Bruce’s successor last month, was also a boyhood Villa supporter. And, like Grealish, Smith, who grew up in Great Barr, comes from a family of Villa fans.
“I am loving working with him,” Grealish said of his new mentor. “It’s nice for me as well because he’s an Aston Villa fan. His whole family are Aston Villa supporters just like mine. We get on well.”
Grealish has had, by his own standards, a quiet start to the campaign, yet he took his goal against Bolton with all the poise and purpose of a red-hot striker.
Smith said the goal was a direct product of the patterns he and Grealish had worked on in preparation for the game. And the 23-year-old was in full agreement.
“He has been working hard with me on the training field on one or two things,” Grealish said. “I’m not going to give away the tactics but on Friday night it definitely paid off.”