Villa have surged into the Championship playoffs and their final two games are against Leeds United and Norwich City.
Quest EFL pundit Dean Ashton has claimed that Aston Villa have “every chance” of finishing in the Championship’s automatic promotion places this season – providing Jack Grealish stays fit.
Prior to the Championship encounter with Derby County at the start of March, the 23-year-old fan favourite had not played since 7 December, the 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion.
The Villans won just two of 13 games without Grealish in their ranks, an ongoing shin issue having kept him on the sidelines, but his return has proven the catalyst for a major upturn in form.
With Grealish back in their ranks, Dean Smith’s side have won four on the trot – 4-0 over Derby County, 1-0 against rivals Birmingham City, 3-1 at Nottingham Forest, and 3-0 at Middlesbrough, which has seen them go up to sixth in the table and with a chance of the playoffs.
Saturday sees Villa host Blackburn Rovers, the first of their final eight games of the regular season, and with top-two contenders Leeds United and Norwich City coming up in their last two games, Ashton thinks the possibility of a triumphant surge into the automatics is possible.
“When Jack Grealish is in the team it’s as if anything’s possible,” Ashton told The Express. “I think that is how crucial he is to that team at the moment. You saw when he was injured, they went on a bad run.
“Suddenly he returns and people are saying they could be making a push for automatic promotion, definitely playoffs the way they’ve been playing. They’ve got to play Norwich and Leeds the last two games of the season, so as long as he stays fit, they’ve got every chance.”
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