Pressure will be on Villa to stay up

John McGinn says Aston Villa will be under pressure to survive in the Premier League next season. The Championship play-off winners are gearing up for a return to the top tier after three years away, having held off Derby County to win football’s richest game at Wembley.

The Scotland international moved to the Midlands club from Hibernian last summer and enjoyed a fruitful first season.

McGinn scored seven times in his first year at Villa, including the one which helped his side gain promotion as he scored the second goal against Derby in the Championship play-off final in May in a 2-1 success.

Dean Smith’s side won 10 games on the spin from March to get into the play-offs and that will give them confidence going into next term, says McGinn.

“I think we just need to take it the same way we did last year,” McGinn said.

“We took it on a week by week basis and ended up doing well. Obviously, by the size of the club, people will expect us to stay up but it’s not gonna be as easy as that. We’re just going to try and press early on, get results on the board and see what we can do.”

They will travel to Tottenham in their opening game and, despite it being a stiff task, that’s what McGinn hoped for.

“It’s an exciting one for everyone involved but we need to get off to a quick start. It’s a massive jump for us but we know we’re capable of competing and hopefully we can start showing that,” he said. Villa are 3.50 to be relegated next season.