Premier League rivals Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers are set to fight it out in the EFL Cup fourth round tonight.
Aston Villa manager Dean Smith was in no mood to stir up the flames ahead of Wednesday night’s EFL Cup clash against rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers, instead telling the Birmingham Mail that he admires that progress the Black Country side have made in recent years.
Both Villa and Wolves are back in the Premier League after a couple of miserable years outside of the promised land and, with plenty of money to spend, the Midlands is home to two of the top flight’s most forward thinking and ambitious clubs.
They are set to go head-to-head tonight at Villa Park too with a place in the EFL Cup quarter-finals up for grabs.
But Smith had nothing but kind words to say about a team that has gone from the bottom half of the Championship to the Europa League group-stages in just two years.
“The rivalry has never been a massive one between Villa and Wolves, not like Villa-Birmingham or Villa against West Brom but, they’re a well-established Premier League team now who got promoted a couple of years ago and looked fantastic last year who are now trailblazers in Europe,” said the former Brentford boss.
In many ways, Wolves are an example for Aston Villa.
Financial backing doesn’t guarantee success and Wolves’ rapid rise is built more on intelligent management and the careful building of a team high on quality but low on quantity.
And there is no reason why Aston Villa, coached brilliantly by Smith and boasting a crop of excellent young players, cannot follow in their footsteps.
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