Smith says Southampton’s home record puts them under pressure this weekend.
Aston Villa manager Dean Smith says Southampton’s poor home record will likely put them under pressure from the start of his side’s trip to St Mary’s this weekend.
As per Sky Sports, Smith said that he is looking to drag the Saints back into the relegation battle and says his side can make the most of their poor home form.
He said: “Their home record hasn’t been great. Their head coach himself has said it has been tough to play at home. There has been an awful lot of pressure on the first 15 minutes of games. There is an expectation on them and the players have not handled that expectation as well as they could have.
“But we have to concentrate on ourselves. We have to make sure we put that pressure onto Southampton and their supporters. Hopefully that is something we can play on and if we play to the capabilities we have got we can be a match for anyone.”
Southampton looked to have pulled away from the relegation battle somewhat with some good form during the festive period, but Villa are just six points behind them at present.
That means that Smith’s side could well drag them back into the dogfight if they can continue Southampton’s home misery.
Or the Saints could pull further away into midtable if they can beat Villa like they did at Villa Park earlier on in the season, but they would have to deal with the pressure better than they have at St Mary’s this term.
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