Villa vow to take it easy with Grealish

ASTON Villa boss Dean Smith was delighted to see Jack Grealish make his return from injury in the 0-0 draw with Everton last night but cautioned against expecting too much, too soon.

Grealish came on for the last 18 minutes after spending three months on the sidelines and Smith (left) told BBC Sport: ‘It is really good to see, he has been training well but we have had to manage it. I had an agreement with the medical staff today, twisted their arm to get an extra five minutes out of him.

‘We will see how he feels, we will be looking to get him 90 minutes somewhere, Palace next [on Sunday] he won’t be ready for 90 minutes.’ Carlo Ancelotti said eighth-placed Everton were still in the chase for European qualification.

‘We tried to do everything to win. We did our best,’ said the Toffees boss. ‘We have three games (to try to qualify), we’re still in the fight. We have to try to win the last three games. I think we need nine points.’