Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood refuses to panic despite Swansea setback

Bafetimbi Gomis’ 87th-minute goal halted Villa’s recent resurgence as they were left still looking anxiously over their shoulders in the battle to beat the drop.

Sherwood has started to turn the tide in recent weeks after wins in their previous two league matches as well as booking an FA Cup semi-final place.

While this was a setback, Sherwood is adamant the Villa of now is an altogether different proposition to that which he arrived to.

He said: “Obviously we can’t take this defeat too deeply because you can seep back into that depression mode, which you don’t want.

“It was very low when I arrived. They were on the floor. They hadn’t won a Premier League game in 10, so I didn’t expect them to be doing cartwheels around the training ground.

“It has picked up with a few results and the belief that what we’re doing is the right way forward.

“Obviously this is a little blip. It’s just a bump in the road and we need to get over it and continue on the way forward.

“As I expected, it is ups and downs but I’m still confident even after this little blip that we’ll stay in the division.”

There is certainly a renewed vigour about Villa.

Their forward line and midfielders Fabian Delph and Tom Cleverley - who went off with a groin injury - have all looked reinvigorated in recent weeks.

But Sherwood, in all probability, would have targeted more than the six points they have gleaned from his first five league matches given none of their opponents were in the top seven.

Sherwood has long identified a six-pointer at home to bottom-three dwelling QPR - now under his former right-hand man at Tottenham, Chris Ramsey - as pivotal. “I think that was always going to be a big one,” he said.

There are also trips to both Manchester clubs and a visit back to White Hart Lane, not to mention that FA Cup semi-final.

“I think we have enough quality,” he added. “I’ve seen the desire and I’ve seen the mood change.

“Obviously the more time I am with them, the more time I have to work with them. But the morale was low when I came in and I think that has turned around now.”

The victory elevated Garry Monk’s team to eighth, yet despite the victory, the evidence here pointed towards the acute need to find a replacement for Wilfried Bony, who departed for Manchester City in January.

This was only a third league goal for Gomis and the shadow of Bony, who scored nine goals in his final 14 league appearances for the Swans, looms large.

Midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson said: “Everyone’s happy for him, he’s having to back up what Bony did for the club, that’s not easy there’s a lot of pressure on him.”

ASTON Villa (4-4-2): Guzan 5; Bacuna 6, Okore 6, Clark 6, Hutton 6; N’Zogbia 6 (Westwood 68, 6), Cleverley 5 (Sanchez 25, 6), Delph 7, Sinclair 5; Benteke 5 (Weimann 75), Agbonlahor 5. NEXT UP: Manchester United (A) PL, Sat 4 April

Swansea (4-1-2-1-2): Fabianski 6; Naughton 6, Fernandez 7, Williams 6, Taylor 7; Ki 6; Cork 7, Shelvey 6 (Dyer 75); Sigurdsson 6 (Montero 64, 7); Routledge 6, Gomis 6 (Oliveira 90). Goal: Gomis 87. NEXT UP: Hull (H) PL, Sat 4 April

Referee: R Madley (West Yorkshire).

STAT: Gomis’s goal was the first he has scored away from home for Swansea in the Premier League.