John McGinn has told talkSPORT (11/08/21 at 12:45 pm) that Arsenal and Leeds ‘deservedly’ finished above Aston Villa last season, but his team now need to deal with such situations better ahead of the new season.
After a strong start to the first half of the campaign, Villa were pushing for Europe, but from February onwards, their performances started to dip.
Whilst Leeds became stronger, especially from a defensive standpoint, and only Manchester City picked up more points than the Gunners during the second half.
It meant that Villa had to settle for an 11th place finish, as McGinn shared what his teammates need to put right ahead of the new campaign, so such mistakes don’t occur again.
“We were extremely disappointed we didn’t finish in the top ten,” said McGinn. “We had a brilliant first half of the season, where we probably surprised a lot of people.
“We then had a COVID outbreak, we didn’t deal with that effectively. We sort of went on a bad run and the table doesn’t lie.
“Leeds overtook us and so did Arsenal. They deservedly finished in the top ten.
“Our aim is to be more consistent. Deal with any injuries. COVID, which is very prominent, so we need to deal with things like that better and try to treat the season more as a whole, rather than what we did last year.”
It’s Arsenal who are going to kick-off the new Premier League season, as they face a tricky tie away at newly-promoted Brentford on Friday night, who will not shy away from putting their on the accelerator.
Dean Smith will also be preparing to face a newly-promoted team in Watford, who pipped play-off winners Brentford to the final automatic spots last season.
As for Leeds, it’s just the small matter of taking on Premier League title contenders Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Whilst the duo faced off in the Premier League last season, this will be the first time in nearly two decades they face each other in a top-flight league game with crowds in the ground.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
