Dean Smith was a proud man after Aston Villa finished the season with a 2-1 victory against Chelsea in the Premier League.
The head coach paid tribute to his squad for seeing off the Blues through goals from Bertrand Traore and Anwar El Ghazi.
It was the perfect way to end a campaign that saw Villa cause a number of upsets and accrue 20 more points than last season.
Smith said: “It was a real tough one against a very, very good team, who for 25 minutes I had to check to see if they only had 11 players on the pitch.
“Their passing, their movement was very good and it had to be a very good defensive display today.
“To a man, they defended really well today. To walk away this week with a win against Tottenham away and Chelsea just shows how much we’re progressing as a club.”
As he gave his post-match interview, Smith already had one eye on next season, targeting more improvement.
The 50-year-old feels the club are in a great position, on and off the field, and feels that has been proven with results this term.
He said: “It’s really pleasing. Aston Villa have had some terrible records against the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea in this league.
“We’ve done the double over Arsenal, beat Tottenham this week, beat Liverpool, so we can be proud of the progress we’re making.
“I want more and I want more next season. I just thanked the boys for all their efforts this season and they can certainly be proud of themselves.”
