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Jermaine Jenas believes that Aston Villa will be relegated this season - and it will be their own fault.

Speaking through his Yahoo column , the former Villa midfielder stated that it was arrogant of Villa to think they wouldn't get relegated after failing to improve their side sufficiently in the summer.

He also stated that he believes Tim Sherwood is a good manager and one that can't be blamed for Villa's woes.

Jenas said of Sherwood: " Tim Sherwood apparently has one game left to save his job after Aston Villa's latest defeat, at Chelsea on Saturday, but I don’t understand why the club’s board is surprised at the position they are in.

"From what I hear the players at Villa like Sherwood as a manager, so he hasn’t lost the group.

"Villa are where they deserve to be in the table simply based on the squad they have. When I was at QPR and we got promoted to the Premier League, we went into that season knowing we would be in a relegation fight. I don't understand why Villa are not in that mindset, or what gives them the arrogance to think otherwise."

Jenas paid tribute to Sherwood, someone he knows well from his Spurs days and said Villa got to the FA Cup Final because of his passion.

He stated: " Sherwood is an emotional manager and that can bring huge benefits.

"When Villa got to the Cup final that was largely due to his passion, energy and belief in players like Jack Grealish, Fabian Delph and Christian Benteke, who all improved after Sherwood arrived.

"He’s proved that when he works with good players, he can make good things happen."

He believes that Sherwood isn't to blame for the club's troubles

.

"I think he did a decent job at Spurs overall, but the one thing he didn't get to do as a manager - until the last transfer window - was buy players. Villa’s summer recruitment hasn’t gone to plan, but the question is how many of those signings were Sherwood’s.

"When you take into account the sales of Benteke and Delph, Villa’s net spend over the summer was just £7m, which is a pittance in Premier League terms.

"They were a bad team last season, who did well to avoid relegation, and now they are a worse team. They’ve lost their two best players. So what did Villa’s board expect to happen?

"I'm not sure Sherwood has been given what he wanted in terms of transfer targets, and now he is being asked to turn water into wine. That’s why I think Villa will get relegated, with or without Tim Sherwood."

Read the full and very frank interview with Jermaine Jenas here - https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/exclusive--jermaine-jenas--aston-villa-will-get-relegated-but-it-won-t-be-tim-sherwood-s-fault-112207038-soccer.html #