Aston Villa step up their pursuit of promotion to the Premier League on Saturday as they face West Bromwich Albion in the first leg of their Championship playoffs semi-final tie.
Villa will be desperate to bounce back from the heartbreak of losing in the Playoffs final last year, as their brilliant form to end the season has brought them back into contention this time round.
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Dean Smith is the man in charge responsible for getting them back up to the top flight, but they face rivals West Brom for a place at Wembley with either Leeds United or Derby County emerging from the other semi-final.
As noted in his tweet below, Villa legend Paul McGrath has delivered a classy rallying cry on the eve of the first leg at Villa Park on Saturday afternoon, insisting that he’s proud of the current crop for what they’ve done to this point this season.
Naturally though, there will be huge disappointment if Villa fall short, and so they will have to use last season’s experience as motivation to avoid a similar setback this time round.
Failure to gain promotion for another year could have major repercussions for the club, as ultimately question marks would be raised over their ability to keep their top players including the likes of Jack Grealish and loanees Tyrone Mings and Tammy Abraham.
However, that won’t be a concern in the more immediate future, as they will be fully focused on getting the job done this weekend and securing an advantage heading into the second leg at the Hawthorns on Tuesday night.
