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Aston Villa boss Dean Smith challenges midfielder John McGinn to maintain blistering form

Villa boss Dean Smith has challenged John McGinn to maintain his blistering form for the Championship run-in.

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Midfield ace McGinn has returned from a two-game suspension in determined mood, hitting three goals in the wins over Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough as Villa have leapt back into the top six.

The 24-year-old, rated as the club’s most consistent performer this season by Smith, was initially left out of the starting XI for the Second City derby against Blues, after being banned for games against Stoke and Derby.

Smith, who suddenly finds himself with a multitude of options in midfield following the return of Jack Grealish, said: “I am guessing John would have been smarting at not starting the game against Birmingham.

“But he certainly helped change the game when he came on. He put in another good performance again last Wednesday against Forest.

“Those are the levels he has got and those are the levels he needs to stay at.

“I have Conor Hourihane and Glenn Whelan fighting for a place, Tom Carroll right on their heels as well.

“We have a lot of really good midfielders coming back to form and fitness and that is what we need.”

McGinn has proved a smash hit since being signed for Villa by Smith’s predecessor, Steve Bruce, in a £2.75million move from Hibernian last summer.

But it is not just on the pitch where the Scotland international has impressed, with Smith also delighted by his attitude off it.

After scoring two goals to help Villa beat Forest last week and record their third win on the spin, McGinn admitted some players might have been guilty of getting carried away during a similar good run earlier in the campaign.

Smith said: “I heard John’s comments, read his comments. I don’t agree with him but that sometimes happens with players.

“The one thing I love about John is his honesty. That is probably how he was feeling.

“He was playing very well, at the top of his game, and we were winning.

“All of a sudden when you are not winning you look at reasons why. For him that was probably one of the reasons. For me, there were a lot of different reasons.”

The boss continued: “I thought there were a number of factors which led to our loss of form.

“Personnel was a big one. Every game you go into in this league is tough. I never felt there were any easy games at all.”