AXE FALLS ON DANNY AS VILLA GET TOUGH

St Mary’s stadium: 3pm

DANNY DRINKWATER has been ordered to add graft to his craft.

The on-loan Chelsea midfielder (above) has been dragged off in each of his four appearances for Aston Villa and is averaging just 66 minutes on the pitch.

And the 29-year-old is facing the axe for today’s clash at Southampton, with Marvelous Nakamba ready to replace him alongside Douglas Luiz.

Villa boss Dean Smith (right) said: “Danny’s passing completion stats last week against Tottenham were

91 per cent, and probably the most forward passes in a game as well, so he was a big part of our build-up.

“Where he’s working to get better is without the ball. We know what he can do passing forwards, but now it’s down to the other lads. If they replace him, it’s down to them to keep the shirt off him.

“There’s certainly more to come from Danny and he’s getting to where we want him to be. But that takes time when you haven’t played an awful lot of games.”

Prior to his arrival at Villa, Drinkwater had played just 59 minutes in the Premier League this season – in December, on loan at Burnley.

“If Marvelous and Douglas had played really well at Bournemouth, Danny would not have got back in,” said the Villa chief.

“But they didn’t play well and I thought Danny should come back in last week.”

Southampton have the worst home record in the Premier League, with eight defeats in 13 at St Mary’s. And Villa can pull to within three points of them with a win today.

Smith added: “Their head coach said it has been tough for them to play at home.

“There has been an awful lot of pressure on them, and in the first 15 minutes of games there is an expectation on them, and maybe the players have not handled that as well as they could have.

“Their home record has not been great and hopefully that’s something we can play on. We have to be on top of that and make sure we take advantage.

“We have to make sure we put that pressure on Southampton and their supporters, to try and get them against their team.”

WIZARD of Oz Aaron Mooy never dreamed he would be playing in the Premier League with the goalie from his school team 10,000 miles away in Sydney.

But when Brighton’s midfield playmaker and Socceroos chum Mat Ryan face Sheffield United today, you can bet your possum dollar they will be loving every minute.

Westfields Sport High School, in Sydney’s sprawling western suburbs, is not an obvious breeding ground for Premier League stars.

But Ryan is in his third season as Brighton’s first-choice keeper and Mooy sprays his passes across the Amex like a subway graffiti artist.

Football Down Under (proper football, not that Aussie Rules mayhem) has never been in ruder health.

And at £5million, Seagulls head coach Graham Potter didn’t just land an outrageous bargain when he turned Mooy’s loan from Huddersfield into a permanent deal: It was like buying a Rembrandt at a car-boot sale.

Picked up by Bolton as a teenager but released without playing a minute for the Trotters, Mooy – now 29 – drifted back to Australia after trying to kick-start his career at St Mirren. “I had lots of offers to sign for Asian teams, but I didn’t want to abandon hope of playing in the Premier League,” he said.

“I had worked too hard just to give up. I could have jumped at one of the first opportunities that came along from other countries but I’m glad I didn’t. I’m glad it worked out this way.”

Manchester City found a jewel on the payroll at their sister club, Melbourne City, and brought him back to England four years ago. And although the route to first-team football at the Etihad was blocked, quiet man Mooy found a way to get himself noticed at Huddersfield and now Albion.

It took him to the World Cup in 2018, and now he’s part of the fair dinkum brotherhood with Ryan (right) at the Amex.

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“But I never year later, I w for Brighton w who lived just or not very far miles away.

“Maty grew Druitt, I was Quakers Hill team-mates a Westfields, alt the year below

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