Teams are set up just to stop me
MARKED MAN JACK NEEDS A PLAN B
ASTON VILLA V LEICESTER 2.05PM TOMORROW, SKY SPORTS
JACK GREALISH admits he has become a marked man after taking the top-flight by storm.
The Aston Villa skipper has been touted as a player-of-theyear contender and will look to add to his haul of six goals and 10 Premier League assists when Leicester visit tomorrow.
But Grealish revealed he had found Villa’s recent matches against West Ham, Arsenal and Brighton the most difficult amid intense opposition attention. The 25-year-old said: “I feel, especially in the West Ham and Brighton games – and a little bit in the Arsenal game – the opposition teams are set up to stop me.
“They have doubled up on me massively and followed every movement.
“That happens to the good players all over the world and it is up to the good players to do something different.
“I felt in the West Ham game, Vladimir Coufal was following me everywhere and Ryan Fredericks was helping him.
“I moved on to the other side of the pitch and got an assist.
“Against Arsenal and Brighton I did not do that, but it is something I will look to do if that happens in the future. “I have a good enough football
brain to adapt with that.” Grealish’s form last term made him a close-season transfer target for Manchester United after he inspiredVilla to a dramatic last-day relegation escape.
He signed a five-year, £130,000-a-week deal with his boyhood team after United refused to meet Villa’s £80million valuation.
United remain keen on the England midfield star, as are neighbours Manchester City, and both clubs could launch a bid for him this summer.
Grealish, though, has not been the only player to shine as Villa have climbed to eighth position this season.
Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, midfielder Douglas Luiz, defender Ezri Konsa and striker OllieWatkins, above, have also been in excellent form.
“It’s been a better season than we expected,” said Grealish.
“In our heads we are all looking at finishing as high as possible.
“Whether that be 10th, ninth, eighth, seventh – that’s where we should be aiming now, in my
opinion.”
ADAMA TRAORE’S goal torment continues but you can’t help feeling sympathy that his 14-month blank spell wasn’t smashed once and for all.
Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier will have an own-goal against his name but it is tough on Wolves’ flying winger.
The Spain international must have thought his barren run had ended in the 64th minute when he thumped the ball goalwards from 20 yards and beat the full-stretched Meslier.
But his shot struck the underside of the crossbar, bounced down and hit the French keeper on the back and rolled into the net.
Traore was left cursing his luck and his goal drought that stretches back to a 3-2 win over Man City just after Christmas 2019. His strike came in a switch of play straight from the other 1 0 end after Patrick Bamford’s closerange header was superbly saved by Rui Patricio.
Within seconds of thinking they’d taken the lead Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa, right, saw his men floored by Meslier’s unwitting intervention. Things were to get worse for the visitors – Bamford slamming home a wonderful left foot shot only to be ruled offside by a whisker.
There were chances for both sides in an entertaining opening 45 minutes with, arguably, the best one falling to the visitors when Liam Cooper really should have done better with a header in the 21st minute.
The Leeds skipper got himself into a great position but made weak contact with a Raphinha free-kick just eight yards out and only managed to steer it straight at Patricio. At the other end it was the in-form Pedro Neto who was causing most of the problems and twice it took keeper Meslier to save them.
Both efforts were from distance – the first a simple enough block but the second forcing the French keeper to use every last inch of his 6ft 5in frame to make an acrobatic flying tip-over for a corner. Opposite number Patricio also survived a scary moment when a shot from Mateusz Klich caught him by surprise, striking the foot of the post and bouncing away off the keeper’s back. The result takes Wolves up to 11th in the table, one place and one point above Leeds.