Express & Star

Dean Smith addresses Anwar El Ghazi 'red mist' following Aston Villa draw

Dean Smith felt the “red mist” descended for Anwar El Ghazi after the Villa winger was involved in a remarkable on-field bust-up with team-mate Tyrone Mings.

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The pair clashed during the first-half of last night’s 0-0 draw with West Ham at Villa Park, with El Ghazi thrusting his head into the face of the central defender.

Dutch international El Ghazi ran the risk of seeing red, with the incident subsequently checked by the VAR official before play continued with no action taken.

Smith declared the matter closed and revealed how the duo had later shook hands at half-time.

The boss also claimed he gave no thought to taking El Ghazi off at the break.

Smith said: “Anwar has a little bit of red mist in him, like most professional footballers have. It is one of those things.

“The players dealt with it and that is the group of players I have got. There is a great team spirit.

“Looking at it, it went over the edge of what we want. The players dealt with it swiftly and I was happy with the players to do that.

“That is the end of it. It won’t get brought up again. They shook hands at half-time and both wanted to do their best for the team.”

Smith expressed disappointment at his team being unable to claim a second Premier League win of the season despite playing the final 25 minutes against 10-men, when the visitors had Arthur Masuaku sent-off.

“The disappointing part is we never used our extra man well enough,” he said. “We lost a bit of emotional control and our structure. We had players giving sloppy passes away and players trying to do it all themselves a little bit.”