Norwich City head coach faces his former club when Aston Villa travel to Carrow Road for Tuesday’s Premier League game.
Smith spent three years at Aston Villa, taking them up from the Sky Bet Championship to the Premier League, but insists that Tuesday’s game holds no additional value compared to any other match.
“It’s the next game,” he said. “I was manager there a month ago and somebody made the decision that I wasn’t anymore. I’m not in control of that so I move on very quickly and I’m enjoying life at Norwich. It just so happens to be Aston Villa tomorrow. If it was Manchester City or Liverpool it’s the same - I’ve got to get three points. I made a statement when I left that football club and I stand by every word of it. They’ve moved on and I’ve moved on.
“There’s an advantage that I know the strengths and weaknesses of all the players because I brought the majority of them in. John McGinn is probably the only one who I didn’t. But they also know what I’m about, so they know what I’ll be looking to do. Steven’s gone in there with his own ideas and I don’t know what they are, but you’re starting to learn a little bit about them by watching their games, as they will be with my Norwich team as well.”
City have five Premier League games across the next three-and-half weeks, entering a vital period of the season for picking up points.
“It’s a crucial period,” Smith said. “We’ve just gone through a three-game week and now we’ve got another. You can pick up points very quickly, or others can do around you, so it’s really important. We can control our performance and they’re moving in the right direction. We just need the results now.
“We played Tottenham away and Manchester United at home and our performance levels were really good. Against Tottenham, we didn’t take our chances and against United we came up against a very good goalkeeper.
“We couldn’t have done much more to turn that game around, but we need to make better decisions in the final third and if we do that then we’ll be fine. All we can do is keep creating chances and I’m sure the goals will come.
“The fact that we could take a star-studded Manchester United team and push them as far as we did is proof of our growing confidence and belief.”
Dean Smith's preview has been brought to you in association with Football Manager.