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Aston Villa

Image source, PA Media

Aston Villa boss Dean Smith was also quizzed about how he feels about returning to Villa Park without fans.

Villa have collected the majority of their points on home soil this season, where they have attracted the eighth highest average gate in the top flight.

And when asked if playing behind closed doors neutralised any advantage they would have hoped to have gained in six of their remaining 10 games, Smith said: "Without a shadow. We are trying to come up with ideas that might help us.

"I think just walking out with the colours at Villa Park gives you a boost. We’ve played a couple of games and tried to use the crowd noise and some of the supporter songs, just trying different variations to see if they will help us.

"The fact we have six home games means we have to try and turn it to our advantage."

Aston Villa

Aston Villa boss Dean Smith says he was "firmly against" a rule change that will allow more substitutions, when the Premier League resumes.

Clubs will be able to make five substitutions, rather than three, in each match to the end of the season after clubs approved new rules.

Teams will also be able to name nine substitutes instead of the usual seven.

"I didn't like the fact there was a rule change in the season. Bigger squads and bigger clubs will benefit from more subs" he said.

Sounds like Smith and his Sheffield United counterpart, Chris Wilder are very much on the same hymn sheet.

The word "unfortunate" doesn't seem to do this justice.

Galatasaray's Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera suffered a double leg fracture at the weekend in the club's first game since matches resumed.

The captain "sustained an injury causing bone fractures in his tibia and fibula" in the 2-0 defeat by Rizespor.

Thoughts with the player.

Image source, Getty Images

There's more from Dean Smith to come but here are two important matters concerning the Scottish leagues:

• Scottish Championship clubs have "voted overwhelmingly" to play a 27-game season, nine fewer than normal.
• Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer have had their relegations confirmed after only 16 clubs indicated that they would vote for league reconstruction.

Aston Villa

Aston Villa boss Dean Smith seems pretty pleased at the prospect of having John McGinn available for the club’s remaining Premier League fixtures.

If Villa were to win on Wednesday, it would lift them up to 16th in the table and out of the bottom three, having played the same number of games as all of the teams they are in a relegation battle with.

So having the Scotland international, who has been out since December, fit is very timely indeed.

"It’s a massive boost" Smith said.

"Not just as a player but as a character. He personifies the attitude we want from our players. He was rightly getting plaudits before his injury, my only concern is that he hasn’t played for six months because of the injury and the break so we will have to manage him appropriately."

Cristiano Ronaldo might have missed a penalty on Friday but then when you see this, frankly who cares.

Hardly looks a day older either between 2004-2018.

Aston Villa

Image source, Empics

More from Aston Villa boss Dean Smith: "We've been given a pause and a great opportunity to reset. It's allowed us to get people like John McGinn back to fitness and look at what was previously going wrong and put it into coaching sessions.

On Jack Grealish, he says: "Jack has always carried responsibility anyway by being a local lad and by being made captain as well.

"He carried that very well before the lockdown and he will again. he is trying to improve his leadership skills all the time.

"I read a really good article by Wayne Rooney the other day on captaincy and sent it on to Jack straight away. He is an avid reader and thought it was great. He will go and lead by example by the way he plays."

• The first Premier League pre-match news conferences are held for the first time since March.
• Aston Villa boss Dean Smith says his players are "itching to return"
• Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder has confirmed his club will extend Dean Henderson's loan deal in the coming days.
• Striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang says the decision whether to sign a new deal with Arsenal is "possibly the most important" of his career.

Aston Villa

More from the Aston Villa manager Dean Smith: “The matches are where we will find out if they are fit or not. The group of players we have, are as conditioned as they can be.

"Funnily I think they will be in better condition than going into the Tottenham game (on the opening day) because we had players joining us throughout pre-season and they were all in different areas of fitness."

Aston Villa

Aston Villa manager Dean Smith says that while a couple of his players had doubts over returning to football, the environment that they have come back to is as safe as it possibly could be.

"I think the Premier League have done everything possible to make it as safe as an environment as possible," Smith said.

"I think it is safer coming into Bodymoor Heath and training than going to the supermarket and getting your shopping. We are being tested twice weekly and thankfully nobody at the club has tested positive yet. We are all set to go now and they (the players) just want to play football."

Aston Villa

Aston Villa manager Dean Smith says that he and his players are due to talk through how they mark Black Lives Matter when the Premier League resumes on Wednesday.

Premier League players' names will be replaced on the back of their shirts with 'Black Lives Matter' for the first 12 matches of the restarted season.

The Premier League will also support any player who chooses to 'take a knee' before or during matches.

"We are due to have a chat about it because all of our players feel very strongly about it," Smith said.

"It’s great to see that football gets a chance to come together at times like this and show solidarity as a group. Our players will have a chat and I’m sure we’ll speak to our counterparts at Sheffield United and decide what they want to do.

"You can’t not see what is happening out in the world and we feel very strongly about it."

It all seems a bit The Hunger Games, minus the barbarism, but Tottenham are the latest club to have fans faces displayed on the screens inside their stadium - starting with their match against Manchester United on Friday.

You can read more about it on the Spurs website., external

Image source, PA Media

Simon Stone
BBC Sport

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has revealed goalkeeper Dean Henderson is on the verge of extending his loan deal from Manchester United until the end of the season.

Henderson has been outstanding in the Blades charge to the brink of a Champions League place.

With his loan due to run out on 30 June, Wilder confirmed he has had positive talks with United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

“I spoke to Ole yesterday morning and thanked him for his co-operation with Dean,” said Wilder.

“It is in the process in next couple of days for Dean to stay with us for the rest of the season.”

Wilder says the Blades would been keen to have Henderson back at Bramall Lane for a third loan campaign next term, although he accepts the decision is not his.

“We have had early conversations and of course we would be open to Dean coming back,” he said.

“But he is Manchester United’s player and they will make that decision. If there is an opportunity we would look to take that up.”

Aston Villa

Aston Villa manager Dean Smith has also covered a number of other issues in his first pre Premier League match news conference for a while.

Namely how his players are talking about how they want to mark Black Lives Matter when they face Sheffield United, how the Premier League has done everything to make them feel safe and how the restart is a chance for his side to prove those that have written them off wrong.

We'll have all of that here shortly.

Aston Villa

Aston Villa manager Dean Smith says it will be an "honour" to participate in the first Premier League match for three months, when his side host Sheffield United on Wednesday.

"The eyes of the world will be on us and we are looking forward to it," he said.

"We have worked very hard, the players have been very compliant with all the work we set them during the lockdown.

"The players have been itching to get back. The biggest problem we had was having no timeline to work from. finally getting the fixtures was great because we are people that want to plan ahead."

Aston Villa

Aston Villa boss Dean Smith has also been up in front of the press this morning...

So time for some news from Villa Park, starting with team news.

Villa will have John McGinn available as they kick off the Premier League restart against Sheffield United.

The midfielder fractured his ankle in December but is in contention to play against the Blades.

Forward Wesley and goalkeeper Tom Heaton will not be available for the final nine games as they continue to recover from long-term knee injuries but Jed Steer is fit after an Achilles injury.

More than four hundred players, the bulk of them based in Europe, have applied for financial assistance under a scheme set up by world governing body Fifa.

There have been 441 applications so far to a fund that was sent up for players to claim unpaid wages from clubs.

The vast majority, 89%, came from players at clubs in Europe, who can access the fund until the end of June via the world players' union Fifpro.

Apparently Fifa has set aside around £12.8m up to 2022 to reimburse players.

Sheffield United

Now a final little bit from the Sheffield United camp.

Manager Chris Wilder has confirmed that he will have a full squad to choose from after his players came through three behind closed doors friendlies against Hull and Huddersfield.