By Aston Villa FC

Dean Smith spoke to the media via a virtual press conference to preview Aston Villa’s trip to Southampton.

The club’s head coach discussed a number of subjects as he prepares his team to take on the Saints at St Mary’s on Saturday evening.

Here’s what he had to say…

On team news…

Morgan Sanson

“Everybody has come through the Burnley game no problem.

“Morgan Sanson came in on the Wednesday when we were at Burnley and did a little bit of training with our performance team. He was then training with the lads yesterday.

“He looks in a good place and he’s available for the squad, so he’ll certainly travel down with us.”

On lessons from Burnley…

Burnley vs Aston Villa

“It felt like we threw three points away – that was my emotion after the game. You come back, you reflect, you review the game, and we were very good in the game and we deserved to win the game.

“I’d have been disappointed coming away with a point. Sometimes you have games like that, where you’re so much better than the opposition for large periods.

“We didn’t take the game away from them as well as we should have. As I said, it could have been 3-0 at half-time and probably should have been.

“My biggest disappointment was the goal we conceded from the corner. We have to defend that better and I spoke to the players about that.”

On the first half of the season…

Aston Villa v Liverpool

“We stayed up last season with the run that we had and then we’ve added quality, and I think we’ve started the season well.

“We’re disappointed with some of the games we’ve been beaten in. We’ve had some referee’s decisions that have gone against us – Manchester City, Manchester United, West Ham and Brighton to name four of them.

“We haven’t had an awful lot go with us in that department but we’re comfortable with how we’re playing and how we’ve attacked a lot of the games.

“It’s been rare that I’ve walked away from a game and thought ‘we haven’t competed today’.”

On Southampton…

Aston Villa vs Southampton

“I said before we played them at Villa Park that the progression that they’ve made, since Project Restart and the way they’ve started the season, has been terrific.

“It just shows you what can be done by having that continuity at the club with Ralph (Hasenhüttl) and his coaching staff.

“They’ve topped the league at times this season and they may not be having their brightest spell at the moment, they just lost to Arsenal, but it’s been a fantastic season so far.”