Aston Villa head coach Dean Smith spoke to VillaTV after his battling side were held to a late 1-1 draw by Everton at Goodison Park.
Ezri Konsa’s maiden Premier League goal in the second half looked to have secured three huge points against the Toffees.
But Theo Walcott headed home an agonising 87th-minute equaliser to ensure Villa were forced to settle for a share of the spoils.
Speaking post-match, here’s what Dean had to say…
On the encounter…
“We were so close to a deserved win, I thought we were the better team.
“They started really well and we expected that, they were wounded from a poor performance and result against Wolves.
“We had to change our shape, they were building up through us a little bit too much.
“I put John McGinn as a No.10, and I thought from that moment on we were in control of the game.
“I thought defensively we were good, we made it very difficult for them, showed really good composure on the ball and there were some really good patterns of play.
“They only ended up with half-chances, really, and some set-pieces in good areas.
“But second half I thought we were the main aggressors again and scored a deserved goal after a few half-chances we’d had before that.”
On El Ghazi’s chance and Everton’s late leveller…
“We probably missed out a little bit on the actual counter-attack. Keinan, I thought he could have put John McGinn in a little bit earlier, although he may have been offside.
“He puts El Ghazi in, he puts a great ball across, then Jack returns it and he gets on the end of it but just can’t divert it down, it goes over.
“If we score that then we win the game, there’s no doubt in mind.
“I thought we were comfortable, in control.
“I felt we probably lacked a little bit of composure in the last five or six minutes. We gave the ball back very cheaply and we had to defend some crosses into our box.
“And unfortunately we didn’t get out to stop one cross, Theo Walcott’s headed it back across and it drops in via Ezri Konsa.”
On how important one point could be…
“Hopefully it’s very important, I certainly feel we’ve left two points here because it’s a game we should have won.
“As we know at the moment, one point is probably not enough in the battle that we’re having.
“We reliant on other results, we’ve got to go all out now to beat Arsenal and West Ham on the final day.
“We’ve only got a week left, we know what’s at stake and I think the supporters can be proud of how the players are performing at the moment.
“They’ve worked extremely hard and we’re as gutted as they are with that final goal.”
You can watch Dean's full interview with VillaTV now, click here.
