Aston Villa journalist Gregg Evans has shared some details into the touchline incident during the club’s 2-1 defeat to West Ham United on Monday night.
This comes after Evans recently made an appearance on The Athletic’s Villa-themed 1874 podcast, where he spoke about a number of topics concerning Dean Smith’s side, including their recent defeat to the Hammers.
Tempers flared between the two sets of coaching staff following an apparent dive from Villa man Jack Grealish, leading to Smith and Irons coach Kevin Nolan coming to blows.
On the subject of the touchline clash that took place during the game between the two side’s benches, Evans had this to say on the incident.
He said: “There was a lot going on on the touchline as well, John Terry was booked, as was a West Ham member of staff and that all stemmed from the West Ham bench berating Jack Grealish, calling him a diver and a cheat.
“Dean Smith was not happy about that at all, because basically, his take on it is that he tells all of his backroom staff not to be disrespectful to any of the opposition players, so when he heard the West Ham bench basically calling Grealish a cheat, he started to lose it as well as JT.
“I quite like that with Villa though, I quite like that there’s a bit of an aggressive edge to them, and that they want to fight for each other, so that was good to see as well.”
Goals from Angelo Ogbonna and Jarrod Bowen secured the three points for David Moyes’ side despite Grealish’s consolation goal. Later on in the match, a missed penalty from Ollie Watkins and then a late goal overturned by VAR completed a miserable night for Villa (per BBC Sport).
TIF Thoughts on Gregg Evans’ comments on the touchline spat…
In our view, Smith was right to not be pleased by members of West Ham’s staff calling Grealish a cheat when he tells his own bench not to pass comments on opposition players, though the result itself is surely the more pressing concern.
Were West Ham's staff wrong to call Grealish a cheat?
Yes
No
With Villa now having won just one out of their five previous Premier League games, they will now be hoping to move on from this defeat and try and pick up three points in their next game.
However, with Friday’s clash against Newcastle United now postponed, it seems that Villa will have to wait a bit longer for their next game to arrive.