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Sherwood: I have taken the brunt at Villa

Garry Monk feels Aston Villa must show Sherwood the same level of support he has received at Swansea to turn around the club’s fortunes.

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There was not a great deal between Villa and defending champions Chelsea last weekend, but they slipped to another defeat which already leaves them four points adrift of the safety line.

“We will need Villa Park bouncing tomorrow”. “And that’s my job as a manager to take that responsibility”.

“At the end of the day we are family, but when we get onto the pitch it’s about business and fighting for your team-mates and fans”, said big brother Ayew. I can only make certain decisions during a game. I still need to win a football match which I’m aware of.

The pressure is piling on Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood but in his latest comments, the 46-year-old has suggested that he would only leave the job if he were unhappy, something he is far from at the moment.

Stoke City have won exactly half of their 42 Premier League home games under Mark Hughes and after winning their last three top-flight games they will be hoping to make it four in a row for the first time since December 2011.

“It’s all right me jumping around like a lunatic on the sidelines but I’ve tried to calm that down for their benefit really”, he said.

Comeback-kings Leicester have won a league-high seven points from losing positions this season and they have scored a league-high tally of six goals in the final 15 minutes of games this season.

A welcome boost for Villa comes in the shape of three players back to fitness, with forward Gabriel Agbonlahor available along with defenders Ciaran Clark and Jores Okore. I’m the manager, I get paid to stand at the front and take it on the chin and that’s what I’m doing.

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There has been a real lack of cohesion about the side this campaign, whilst Sherwood’s lack of experience as a manager looks to be counting against him. “He likes to see what’s going on, but he sees how I work, he sees the commitment and effort I put in and the quality of what we are doing and he supports it”. Ki Sung-yueng is set to replace Jack Cork in the Swansea midfield at Villa Park and Kyle Naughton could return at right-back with Angel Rangel dropping to the bench. Wayne Routledge is in contention for a place in the squad, after missing last Monday’s loss to Stoke with a calf problem.

Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood