Win at Derby could have been first sighting of Dean Smith’s new Aston Villa

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It is still early days for Dean Smith at Aston Villa but his side’s 3-0 win at Derby on Saturday showed significant progress.

After an unremarkable start of two wins and two defeats in his first four games as manager, the fanfare surrounding Dean Smith taking charge at Aston Villa gradually died down. However, against Derby County, his new Villa side was more than just impressive.

A trip to Pride Park was never going to be easy. Frank Lampard’s team had only lost once in their previous seven games and that was at Stamford Bridge, going out of the League Cup at Lampard’s former home.

The Rams had not lost at home since a 4-1 reverse against Leeds United back in August.

Smith’s Villa side arrived with a definite game-plan and carried it out to the finest detail. As can be seen from the 11tegen11 tweet below, Villa just about shaded the first half. In the second period, Smith’s men stepped it up a gear and their dominance paid off as the game entered its final 15 minutes.

A 2.93 xG rating away from home to one of the top six teams in the Championship is evidence of an absolutely top-drawer performance. Add to that the fact that Villa restricted Derby to just one big chance in the game and an overall xG rating of 0.97 and you can see just how good Aston Villa’s performance was on Saturday.

Smith set his team up in their now-familiar 4-4-1-1 shape with Jack Grealish just behind Tammy Abraham in attack. Grealish had another good game for Smith but it was John McGinn who stole the plaudits. McGinn scored one and set up another as he showed his recent form was not a flash in the pan.

McGinn has been shining in Smith’s midfield, generally alongside Conor Hourihane. Whether that pairing has enough about them to guide their team to a play-off place by May will be interesting to see.

Smith looks to have found a setup that works well for the players he has, with Abraham also proving to be more than capable at this level with five Championship goals already.

The victory at Derby was Villa’s first under Smith on their travels. They won both their home fixtures since his arrival and, with two home games coming up after the international break (Birmingham City and Nottingham Forest), you would not bet against the Villans stealing six points from those games.