Aston Villa will be looking to make it 11 wins in a row on Sunday in what will be their penultimate match of the season.
talkSPORT pundit Dean Ashton has claimed that teams would want to play high-flying Aston Villa in the playoffs if Jack Grealish wasn’t in the starting XI.
On Monday, Dean Smith’s side recorded 10 wins on the bounce after they saw off relegation-threatened Millwall on home soil with Jonathan Kodjia scoring the only goal of the game.
Grealish started that encounter and he was his usual lively self in the middle of the park. He was heavily involved in the goal, with his pass to Anwar El Ghazi finding Kodjia in the penalty area.
Speaking to Final Word on talkSPORT (21/04/201 at 8:30 pm), former West Ham striker Ashton spoke about Grealish’s importance to his team.
On whether you want to play Villa in the playoffs: “It depends,” Ashton told talkSPORT. “If Grealish is playing you don’t want to play them, but if Grealish isn’t playing then you wouldn’t mind playing them. He’s that important. He’s far too good for that division.”
When Grealish was out injured, Villa only won two matches from 11 games as they spiralled down the Championship table and their season seemingly looked over.
But since his return, they have won an incredible 10 games on the bounce and are now heading into the playoffs full of confidence.
If Villa are to succeed in the playoffs then there is no doubt that Grealish will play a huge part in them ending their near three-year stay in the second tier of English football.
On Sunday, Smith will be looking to make it 11 wins out of 11 when his side travel to Yorkshire to take on automatic-chasers Leeds United.
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