Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion are currently sitting in the play-off places.
BBC Sport pundit Martin O’Connor has claimed that Aston Villa have a better squad than their Championship rivals West Bromwich Albion.
The former Birmingham City midfielder stated that he wouldn’t want to come up against Dean Smith’s side because they are a team who ‘always’ have goals in them.
Both Midlands outfit currently occupy the play-off places, and as things stand, they will meet in the semi-finals if they maintain their current positions.
Speaking to BBC Radio West Midlands Football Phone-in (04/04/2019), O’Connor backed Villa in having the best squad and lauded Dean Smith for the job he has done.
“I look at it and think ‘who would you want to play? And who you wouldn’t want to play?'” O’Connor told BBC Radio WM. “I think I wouldn’t want to play Villa. I’d be happy to play West Brom, so I’d have to say Villa [have the best squad].
“He [Mings] has improved a leaky defence. He looks class and I think generally Villa look like a team that have goals in them. They’ve always had goals in them. And Grealish is back. The way he [Smith] has manipulated the squad, he’s done fantastic, so yes, I think they are the team.”
Albion, who were relegated from the Premier League last season, have the most experienced squad out of the two with the likes of Jay Rodriquez, Gareth Barry, Chris Brunt, Jake Livermore and Kieran Gibbs amongst their ranks.
For Villa, since their play-off final defeat to Fulham last May and the sacking of Steve Bruce, they have gone down the road of youth, but they still have experience in the squad.
Glenn Whelan, Mile Jedinak, Alan Hutton, James Chester, Albert Adomah, Jonathan Kodjia and Ahmed Elmohamady are just a some of the senior heads in the dressing room.
With the likes fo Anwar El Ghazi, Andre Green, Axel Tuanzebe, Tyrone Mings, Tammy Abraham and Kortney Hause some of the more younger heads.
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