Aston Villa’s 2020/21 season gets underway in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night and Dean Smith is expecting his side to produce a professional display.
Burton Albion are the opponents as Villa aim for another successful run in the competition, having reached the final last term.
Smith’s side won each of their last three pre-season friendlies and will be looking to build some early positive momentum at the Pirelli Stadium.
Speaking to VillaTV, he said: “We have had some pre-season games that have got us ready for this; Bristol City, Wycombe, Arsenal and Manchester United.
“It’s an important game, because it’s our first, and we want to make a really positive start.
“Jake Buxton has gone in there and he’ll have ambitions of a cup upset, so hopefully we put in a really professional performance.”
The boss is fully aware of Villa’s illustrious League Cup history, with only Liverpool (8) and Manchester City (7) recording more victories in the competition, and it is something that he wants to continue.
“As I’ve said many times before, it’s a competition that we take seriously, we got to the final last season and got beat narrowly by Manchester City,” Smith explained.
“Aston Villa have got a great tradition [in this competition] and we’ll be going all-out to continue that.”
