COLD SORE
Dean’s trip to forget
ASTON VILLA boss Dean Smith has revealed how his wife became the ‘spy’ who came in from the cold.
Smith took partner Nicola with him to run the rule over Stoke last weekend and ended up getting a frosty reaction.
Stoke visit Villa Park this afternoon – with Mrs Smith not overly-impressed with her mission to the Potteries.
Smith said: “I took my wife up to Stoke for their match against Ipswich.
“It wasn’t a classic game to say the least.
“We don’t get the opportunity to do that very often so I just said, ‘Do you fancy coming up to Stoke?’.
“It was cold and miserable and the game didn’t warm us up much I’ve got to say.
“She didn’t even get the chanCceAtPoTsIeOeNa:neyuogf the area eitheerrbceilciqausaeteituwgasitso dark.”
ikngsjktrkejtfcghed their unbeaten run to eight games and saw them move within sight of the play-off spots after a dreadful start to the season.
Villa are also on a hot streak with four wins in a six-match unbeaten run, but Smith can’t help thinking it could have been far better.
Late
They had two points snatched from them last week when Jay Rodriguez bundled in a late equaliser with his hand in a 2-2 draw at West Brom.
Smith said: “We should have beaten Forest in that 5-5 draw so in my head I’m thinking we should have had six wins out of six.
“Everybody saw what happened against West Brom and will know we should have had three points there, but I have to just try and put that out of my mind and be happy with what we got from a tough run of games.”
Smith will be without star midfielder Jack Grealish, who has a shin injury, so that gives Glenn Whelan the chance to come up against his former club today.
Stoke striker Saido Berahino says his side need more of the same if they are to stake a serious promotion bid.
“We haven’t let in as many goals as we did at the start of the season, so we are now tough to beat,” he said.
“I watched Villa at West Brom and they were brilliant.
“We know what they are about going forward, but we have to find their weaknesses and try to exploit them.”