Grealish fails to ignore Villa exit rumours after latest future probe

Jack Grealish Aston Villa

Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish says he is “not sure” if the 1-0 win over Arsenal was his last game at Villa Park for his boyhood club.

Reports have heavily linked the 24-year-old with a move away this summer, having impressed in the Premier League.

Despite failing to affect proceedings post-lockdown, Grealish has carried Villa for the best part of the campaign in their bid to avoid relegation.

That bid got significantly stronger on Tuesday after Villa beat the Gunners to move out of the bottom three; Villa will stay there until Sunday’s final day.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, however, Grealish said he could not say for definite whether he would be staying.

“I’m not too sure [on my future], I have one aim and that’s to keep Villa in the Premier League,” he said. “The whole fan base knows we belong in the Premier League; hopefully we can do that on Sunday.

“It would mean everything to me [to keep Villa up],” he added. “Since we’ve been back I haven’t been as effective as I was before. I haven’t felt as fit as I did before the break but I just need to do what I do and I think I did today.”

Villa took the lead through Trezeguet’s first-half strike, the midfielder smashing past Emiliano Martinez from a corner.

And while Arsenal dominated possession thereafter, Dean Smith’s men showed defensive steel rarely seen this season. Indeed, Villa have dropped 21 points from winning positions this term.

GREALISH HAILS ‘UNBELIEVABLE’ WIN

 

 

Villa’s players headed into the game having watched together the first half of Watford’s crushing 4-0 defeat to Manchester City earlier in the evening.

“It was unbelievable, deserved as well,” Grealish added of his side’s victory. “Our game management, defensive display, the way we counter-attacked; the only problem was we should have got another goal but we take 1-0 against Arsenal all day.

“It has been a tense day but all we can do is focus on ourselves.

“The ball is in our hand now, it’s a massive game against West Ham and we’ll give it our all.”

While Villa face the Hammers on Sunday, Watford go to Arsenal and Bournemouth play Everton.