Aston Villa’s Matt Targett pleased to finish season with a flourish

Matt Targett believes Aston Villa’s impressive end to the season was the perfect way to finish.

Dean Smith’s side had already secured 11th place in the Premier League before Sunday’s 2-1 win over Chelsea.

Bertrand Traore’s opener and Anwar El Ghazi’s penalty earned Villa victory, despite Ben Chilwell’s consolation for the visitors, who had Cesar Azpilicueta sent off late on.

It meant Villa ended the campaign with back-to-back wins, having beaten Tottenham 2-1 last week, to earn 20 more points than last season, when they beat the drop on the final day.

“A very good away win (against Spurs) and to finish off with a win in front of 10,000 fans, it’s amazing,” said left-back Targett.

“They (Chelsea) put us under a lot of pressure, especially in the first half when they had Mason Mount and Christian Pulisic just dropping off into little pockets, it caused us real problems.

“We had to weather the storm, defend our box well, Emi (Martinez) made some great saves again, like he has all season.

“But we weathered the storm, got the goal just before half-time and then kicked on from there in the second half.”

Targett was the only outfield Villa player to start all 38 top-flight games this season and was named the club’s players’ player of the year

“It’s nice to win that award,” he told the official club website.

“The players you train with day in and day out, they see the hard work you put in and to get the vote and win that award, I can’t thank them enough.

“For sure, it was tough, because I could name five or six off the top of my head who all deserve it, but it’s been a fantastic season personally and I look forward to next.”