Aston Villa striker Jonathan Kodjia has yet to score under Dean Smith.
Aston Villa boss Dean Smith has told the Birmingham Mail that he is predicting goals for Jonathan Kodjia even though he hasn’t found the net in a while.
Villa picked up a 3-0 win over Derby County before the international break, and will be hoping to take that goalscoring form into this weekend’s huge derby against Birmingham City.
Tammy Abraham found the net in that game, but it was another struggle for Kodjia as he went goalless once again under Smith.
After starting the season with four goals in 12 games under Steve Bruce, Kodjia has now gone six games without a goal, five of which have some under new boss Smith.
Two of those appearances only came as a substitute, but this mini-drought for the Ivorian has left some Villa fans worried about the striker Roberto Di Matteo brought to Villa Park in a big-money deal in 2016.
Kodjia, 29, undoubtedly has great quality but isn’t finding the net right now, and Smith has moved to defend the forward ahead of that big clash with Birmingham.
Smith has told the Birmingham Mail that he isn’t worried just yet, and predicted goals will come for Kodjia, as long as he keeps getting chances, urging him to look at how Abraham missed major chances before scoring against Derby last time out.
“I have always said if you have forward thinking players and they are not getting chances, that is when you need to worry,” said Smith. “We have players who will score. Kodjia has scored a lot of goals in this league before, for Bristol City and Villa. He will continue to score. The hardest part is getting those chances. They (the goals) will certainly come. Tammy missed a lot of chances on Saturday and over the last four games but he got his goal, which he deserved,” he added.
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