‘Knackered’, ‘off the pace’: Some Aston Villa fans beg Dean Smith to give struggling star a rest

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A number of Aston Villa fans have urged Dean Smith to give John McGinn a rest following his lacklustre performance on Wednesday night.

The 26-year-old has made 19 Premier League appearances this season, playing the full 90 minutes in each of those.

McGinn has also played Villa’s last three league games in a row, and against West Ham, he looked particularly leggy.

He weighed in with a couple of decent flicks in the first half, but much like most of his teammates, soon ran out of steam.

Villa were beaten 3-1 by West Ham, who went 2-0 up through Tomas Soucek and Jesse Lingard.

Although Ollie Watkins halved the deficit on 81 minutes, Lingard restored the visitors’ two-goal advantage not long after.

And plenty of Villa fans noted how the normally impressive McGinn looked exhausted, urging Smith not to play him against Arsenal on Saturday: