Pardew-inspired Sherwood certain of staying up

Ian Watson
Tim Sherwood Aston Villa TEAMtalk

Tim Sherwood: Confident of turning around Aston Villa's fortunes

Tim Sherwood says he takes “inspiration” from Alan Pardew as he seeks to turn things around at Aston Villa, who he has “100 per cent belief” will stay up this season.

Villa have not won in the Premier League since an opening day victory over Bournemouth, and now sit 18th in the table above only Sunderland and Newcastle.

Reports claimed over the weekend that Sherwood must win at least one of his next two games as manager – against Chelsea on Saturday and Swansea next weekend – to save his job, although club director Charles Krulak rubbished such claims on Thursday.

Speaking ahead of the crunch game against struggling Chelsea this weekend, Sherwood has come out fighting amid the uncertainty over his job, and says that he takes “inspiration” from the likes of Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew, who has endured difficult spells in management before.

“Once I get through this period everyone will benefit. Aston Villa will and Tim Sherwood will,” he said.

“I’m a football manager and am responsible for results. That’s what I’m paid for. I’ll stand up to this.

“It’s the nature of the game we’re in. I look up to managers who have stood up in tough periods. I take inspiration from Alan Pardew. He’s now favourite for the England job when Roy [Hodgson] leaves. A real turnaround.

“I take a lot of heart from managers who have been through difficult periods. This is my first tough period in management. We’ll soldier on and get through it. I have 100 per cent belief that we’ll stay in the Premier League.”

“The players know the last few weeks haven’t been good enough. There are a lot of points to be played for, enough to stay in the division.

“I’ve got to believe in the players that I’ve got, which I do. We need to improve and it needs to click and it will. I believe we’ll be in the Premier League next season.”