The play-offs are dominating Villa's plans as mentioned by Lewis Grabban in a recent interview.

Aston Villa drew 1-1 with Derby County at Villa Park in a game that they dominated. Grabban scored a late equaliser to ensure they came away with a point after the Rams had scored early on against the run of play.

The result mattered a lot more for Derby than Villa because play-offs have been confirmed for a while for Steve Bruce's men while the Rams have to draw against Barnsley, on the last day, to guarantee sixth spot.

Grabban talked about the importance of being able to get the draw as well as preparing for the play-offs in his interview with the official site: "Got a decent result and a decent performance, so to lead off into the play-offs that's what we needed anyway.

"We've got to keep our focus and now switch on for the play-offs and see what can happen there.

"The aim is to get promotion and that's what I feel we will do."

The Verdict

Grabban's interview shows how the play-offs are dominating their focus because the last league match against Millwall wasn't even mentioned.

Villa are in a good position because they have been expecting a playoff finish for a while and had it confirmed with games to spare. Therefore, they differ to Fulham who are still hoping to finish in the second automatic promotion spot. This means they have an advantage over the other clubs in terms of mentally preparing for the pivotal matches as well as Bruce being able to plan ahead of time for the games and how to deal with specific opponents.