Mark Lawrenson feels Villa are leaking too many goals.
BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson believes Aston Villa’s defensive record should worry Dean Smith and pointed to both their matches with Tottenham this season as an example.
Villa played with in both meetings with the Champions League finalists, being ahead in both, but ending up losing and Lawrenson used that as evidence of a wider problem.
He said: “Aston Villa… the amount of goals they are conceding is a concern because it is the most in the division and an average of almost two a game. Last week was a good example of why they should be worried. They have now lost to Spurs twice this season and they are hard done by each time, but they have conceded three goals in each.
“That has to change, but Villa have the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City next week and their manager Dean Smith can motivate his players by telling them that they are playing for a place at Wembley.”
Lawrenson did predict Villa to win away from home against Southampton this weekend, so clearly feels their frontline is capable of getting them wins.
Given Villa’s injuries up from and over-reliance on Jack Grealish, they cannot afford to leak as many goals as they are doing on average every game.
Netting twice against Spurs at home should have been enough to earn a point, but it is individual errors like Bjorn Engels made late on that can make the difference between survival and relegation.
Each of Smith’s players should be fired up to play at Wembley next week and that might make the difference at St Mary’s, against a Saints side who have struggled on their own patch for much of the season.
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