Aston Villa made it nine wins from 11 games with a comprehensive 3-0 at bottom of the table Sunderland last night.

Goals from Lewis Grabban, James Chester and an own goal from Bryan Oviedo were enough on the night, whilst Villa were also boosted by the return of Jack Grealish who featured for the last 25 minutes.

Yet, despite the comfortable nature of the victory, Steve Bruce told the Express & Star that he wasn’t impressed with the performance.

We didn’t play well. We were nowhere near where we have been playing. We were sloppy and gave the ball away too cheaply. The first goal was always going to be big.”

However, with Cardiff City winning once again as well, Steve Bruce’s side are still four points behind second place, although they are now only seven behind leaders Wolves who play tonight before going to Villa Park on Saturday.

And, Bruce admitted it’s going to be an exciting end to the season.

Fulham and Cardiff are having good runs too. It is all to play for.”

The Verdict

Bruce will obviously be delighted with the three points as that’s all that matters at this stage of the season but he’s clearly trying to get a bit more out of his players.

On Saturday they face a massive game against Wolves and the ex-Birmingham boss knows he will need to get everything out of his team and these comments are probably designed to ensure they don’t get complacent.

They will approach the game with real confidence and look to be hitting form at the right time.

Thoughts, Villa fans? Let us know in the comments below.