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NORWICH, WOLVES PLAY OUT GOALLESS DRAW

Wolves were able to hold off a late Norwich challenge to secure a point in a goalless draw at Carrow Road.

Dean Smith’s tenure got off to a winning start with a 2-1 home victory against Southampton last weekend and it was followed up by a significant point against a top-half Wolves team.

The visitors went into the game having won five of their previous seven matches but struggled to find their rhythm.

Norwich had just one victory to their name when Smith replaced Daniel Farke just eight days after his own dismissal at Aston Villa and the Canaries have four points from his first two games as they pulled level on points with 18th-placed Burnley – although they have played a game more.

The Canaries looked to get on the front foot, with both Teemu Pukki and Josh Sargent firing early chances over the crossbar.

Wolves striker Raul Jimenez had an early chance to score his fourth goal since returning to action following a career-threatening skull fracture, but the ball from Rayan Ait-Nouri was just too far ahead of him and goalkeeper Tim Krul was able to gather.

Just before half-time, Krul had to come off his line to prevent the ball from reaching Jimenez. It was then cleared straight to Joao Moutinho who hit a low drive but Krul was able to get up quickly and save with his feet to keep the score level.

Less than two minutes later, Wolves keeper Jose Sa was called into action to deny Max Aarons who played a one-two with Lukas Rupp before taking a shot.

The best chance of the match fell to Pukki after the break. He found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper after being picked out by Rupp, but his shot was straight at Sa.

Rupp had a chance with 10 minutes remaining when he managed to get a foot to a cutback from Milot Rashica, who had made a clever run down the left, but his effort lacked power and the Wolves keeper was able to make the save.

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DEAN SMITH APPOINTED NORWICH MANAGER

Dean Smith has been appointed as Norwich City’s new manager after he was sacked by Aston Villa earlier this month.

Norwich are currently bottom of the Premier League having registered just five points from their opening 11 games.

Smith, meanwhile, was let go by Villa following a run of five straight defeats in the Premier League.

But the 50-year-old has now made the move to Carrow Road and is joined by Craig Shakespeare, who was his assistant at Villa.

‘It has been a whirlwind seven days, but I’m really pleased to be back and working for Norwich City in the Premier League,’ said Smith.

‘Clearly, there has been some wonderful work that has gone into this football club over last four and a half years. It is now the job of myself and Craig to continue and improve on that work with the ultimate aim of surviving in the Premier League.

Norwich City is a big club, with a massive hardcore of supporters who are fully understanding in what it means to be part of the club and its community.

‘I was brought up in an era when Norwich were competing in Europe – I remember those times well and whenever I’ve visited Carrow Road and Norwich you can really sense the connection between the fans, staff and players. Together, we all have to make Carrow Road a really tough place for visiting teams.

‘From the age of 16 I’ve been working in football. I think in that time I’ve had four months out and didn’t enjoy it. It’s great to get straight back in with a club that are determined to be progressive.

‘I’ve always worked to improve and develop players – with that obviously comes improved performances. I was really impressed with the idea, structure and vision that is already in place at the club.

‘I’ve also been really impressed with the work Stuart has done at both Huddersfield and Norwich and he is someone I’ve known of for a while. A lot of my background has been working with sporting directors at both Brentford and Aston Villa. It’s an important relationship and I’m sure we’ll work well together here.’

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DEAN SMITH SACKED BY ASTON VILLA AFTER LOSING FIVE SUCCESSIVE MATCHES

Dean Smith has been sacked as the manager of Aston Villa, the Premier League club have announced.

Smith, who guided the club back to the top flight, has paid the price for the team’s disappointing form this season with Villa having lost their last five games.

Friday’s 1-0 defeat at Southampton proved the last act for Smith, that result leaving Villa with just 10 points from their opening 11 games.

Villa chief executive Christian Purslow said in a statement on the club’s website: “This year we have not seen the continuous improvement in results, performances and league position which we have all been looking for.

“For this reason we have decided to make a change now to allow time for a new head coach to make an impact.”

Former Brentford manager Smith took charge with the club 15th in the Championship in October 2018.

He led the club to promotion via the play-offs in his first season and he then went on to keep them in the Premier League, and reach the Carabao Cup final, the following year.

They finished 11th last season but lost star player Jack Grealish to Manchester City in the summer.

Purslow added: “The board would like to sincerely thank Dean for his many excellent achievements, on and off the pitch, during this time.

“Everyone knows how much Aston Villa means to Dean and his family.

“He has represented the club with distinction and dignity – universally liked and respected by everybody associated with Aston Villa – our staff, players and supporters alike.

“We wish him the very best.”

Following the news, Grealish tweeted: “No1 will ever compare, the real goat (greatest of all time).”

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DEAN SMITH TO INVESTIGATE JACK GREALISH INJURY LEAK

ASTON VILLA boss Dean Smith has vowed to investigate how news of Jack Grealish’s injury was leaked on social media.

The skipper missed Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Leicester with a shin problem, but rumours he was out surfaced at least 24 hours before the game.

Without Grealish, Villa saw James Maddison and Harvey Barnes strike in the first half to lift the Foxes up to second in the Premier League, ahead of Manchester United’s clash with Newcastle later in the day.

Bertrand Traore pulled a goal back to ensure Leicester had to work for the points after outclassing Villa before the break.

But Smith was unhappy that news of their star player’s absence had emerged online.

He said: “I was made aware on social media there were rumours he was not going to play. If that is coming out of our training ground I will find out where it is coming from and reprimand whoever it is coming from.

“It certainly does (give the opposition a leg up). It is something I would not be happy with.

“It’s not going to be a long-term injury, but I’m guided by the medical staff and Jack himself. I don’t put the loss down to Jack not being in the team.

“I felt their big players turned up and ours didn’t in the first half. Jack is going to be a loss because he’s an exceptional player, but we still have a good enough team to beat Leicester.

“It took some harsh words at half-time to lift us. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing in League Two or the Premier League, you have to earn the right to play.”

Leicester threatened to run riot during a dominant first half and Maddison scored his 11th goal of the season when he curled in off the post after 19 minutes.

Four minutes later it was 2-0 as Barnes smashed in from close range when Emi Martinez failed to hold Jamie Vardy’s shot.

The winger now has 13 goals this term and impressed again in front of England boss Gareth Southgate.

The visitors looked on course for a comfortable win, but Traore made it 2-1 from close range three minutes after the break.

Yet, despite Villa’s improved second half, they failed to beat Kasper Schmeichel again.

Boss Brendan Rodgers said: “My ambition was to get European football for the club and see if we could disrupt the market.

“Everyone knows what Champions League football brings to a club – but also a city – but I tend to not think about it so much. Especially when we are so far out.

“It was an outstanding team performance in the first half. Our football was exceptional and we scored two very good goals.

“After midweek travel and a European game, the players really have to show their spirit and quality. I was so pleased and very proud of the team.”

Victory was tempered after Maddison was forced off with a hip problem in the second half.

“He had this issue last season and felt it in the game and we had to take him off as a precaution,” added Rodgers, with the midfielder now a doubt for Thursday’s Europa League last-32 second-leg clash with Slavia Prague.

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DEAN SMITH FUMES AT VILLA PLAYERS FOR WESTHAM LOSS.

Dean Smith fumed at Aston Villa’s “Sunday League football” defending as his side went down 3-1 at home to West Ham.

It was Tomas Soucek and a double from Hammers debutant Jesse Lingard that did all the damage with Ollie Watkins striking what proved to be a mere consolation goal.

The result was Villa’s first defeat in four games at Villa Park while it leaves them ninth in the Premier League table.

Speaking afterwards, Smith was asked about what went wrong, and said: “Three horrendous goals we gave away. We didn’t play well. The better team won on the night and we weren’t our usual selves nor did we play with the same tempo we had been in previous games. We gave three awful goals away and you can’t do that at this level.

Listen, we’ve taken a short goal kick, gone forward to Ollie Watkins, it’s broke down and a midfield runner has broke off the back of us and scored. Then, we concede a goal from a counter attack when it’s our free-kick. In fact, Matt Targett does well to get himself out of that situation but we’re left three-vs-one. It’s Sunday League football, you wouldn’t do that and we got punished for it.

“We got ourselves back in the game with a ball down the side for Ollie. It was a good ball from Jack, another assist, and it looked like we were most-likely to get an equaliser but, again, the ball’s broke down again in the centre circle and have gone through and they’ve scored a poor third goal.”

Smith refused to blame Emi Martinez for a rare rick as the ball sailed through the Argentinian to make it 3-1.

The Villa boss added: “The third one he will feel he could do better with, that’s for sure but I’m certainly not going to moan about my goalkeeper making mistakes when he’s kept 10 clean sheets this season and has been one of our best players so far. He’s earned the right to make a mistake.”

Smith was asked about fatigue factor following the third game in a week, but said: “It’s not so much fatigue I don’t think. I’m never one to use that excuse. We had more days’ rest going into this game than we will do for Saturday’s game. We just didn’t have our usual tempo about us today.

“I just don’t think we had a zip about us tonight. I don’t know why. They were brighter than us. We made a change at half time to liven us up, we did that but we gave really poor goals away tonight and we can’t afford to do that at this level.”

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DEAN SMITH AND ASTON VILLA FIRST TEAM SQUAD SET TO MISS FA CUP TIE AGAINST LIVERPOOL DUE TO COVID-19.

Aston Villa will be without their first-team squad and coach Dean Smith for the FA Cup third round tie against Liverpool on Friday after an outbreak of Covid-19 at the Midlands club.

The home side will use their Under 23s squad and other academy players for the clash with the Premier League champions, depending on how many test negative for the virus.

In place of Smith, U23s boss Mark Delaney will take charge of the team.

Villa were forced to close their Bodymoor Heath training ground on Thursday after reporting a “significant coronavirus outbreak”.

A number of senior players and staff received positive tests on Monday and began to self-isolate, with a further round of testing yielding yet more positive results on Thursday.

It meant the Villa first-team squad had their training session cancelled a little over 24 hours before they were due to take on Liverpool at Villa Park, in a repeat of the game that ended 7-2 to the home side in the Premier League earlier this season.

There were initial fears that the match would have to be called off and that Villa may have been forced to forfeit as the already-packed calendar means there is precious little time to reschedule the game.

Instead, they will field a team of younger players just as Championship side Derby plan to do when they take on non-league Chorley on Saturday after an outbreak forced their entire senior squad, including interim manager Wayne Rooney, to self-isolate.

Villa’s improvised squad will be a reversal of what happened at the Carabao Cup quarter-final tie between the sides in December 2019, when Liverpool were forced to play a reserve team as the senior squad were playing in the Club World Cup in Qatar on the same day.

Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp said his side had no positive cases to report before they travel to Villa Park on Friday, but the results from the latest tests are yet to come in.

Asked if his side are in the clear, he told reporters: “Yes, 100 per cent we have no cases in this moment. But the tests from yesterday we don’t have the results yet. But up until then it was all fine.”

The Reds are expected to name the likes of James Milner, Xherdan Shaqiri, Divock Origi, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Takumi Minamino, Neco Williams and Curtis Jones in the squad.

Villa are the latest of a growing number of Premier League clubs to suffer an outbreak of positive cases in recent weeks, which saw four matches postponed during December.

Newcastle’s match against Smith’s side at the start of last month was postponed because of an outbreak at the Magpies’ training ground. Manchester City then had to postpone their match against Everton on December 28 just four hours before kick-off after a number of cases were reported among players and staff.

Two of Fulham’s festive fixtures, against Tottenham and Burnley, were also called off after an outbreak among the Cottagers squad. Sheffield United also reported a number of positive cases, though their fixtures against Burnley and Crystal Palace went ahead as planned.

It is perhaps little surprise therefore that the Premier League reported on Tuesday that a season-high 40 positive cases had been recorded in the latest round of testing.