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Tom Cleverley has insisted that Aston Villa should remain positive as they prepare to conclude their mini-stretch of tough fixtures.

Villa have taken on Liverpool (won away, 1-0) before falling down to earth with back to back 3-0 losses at home to Arsenal and at Chelsea. It’s Manchester City up next at Villa Park on Saturday.

And Cleverly said Villa could take heart from their performances, especially the display at Stamford Bridge.

“It was always going to be tough going to a place like Chelsea.

“It felt like that, a better performance than Arsenal. We felt very solid. A combination of us maybe not taking our openings and the goals coming at the wrong times is why the result was 3-0.

“I wouldn’t say it was a (deserved) 3-0. There are positives we can take.

“Teams will go to Chelsea and get beat. We can’t let our confidence be knocked too much. Last three games we have taken three points and hopefully (again) this weekend, then that would be a good tally from playing last year’s top four.”

“We have got 10 points from six games,” Cleverley continued, assessing Villa’s start to the season overall.

“We have played three of last year’s top four and I think our real opportunities will come against the teams around us.

“And before I came, the team did really well against teams who we will be fighting against for spots.

“I still think you can look at our start to the season positively and hopefully we can get a result this weekend.”

Villa were caught by a flurry of Arsenal goals in a four-minute spell a week last Saturday. Against Chelsea, Cleverley felt they gave a truer reflection of their capabilities against one of the big guns.

“When we had the ball we were much more composed, and we kept them in front of us, in the main,” said the midfielder. “Arsenal are good at getting in pockets behind you and at the weekend we were much tighter.

“I thought when we had the ball we were much more composed and felt like we could create things.

“We came out second-half and started well.

“We kept them in front of us and when we got the ball we controlled it and made a couple of little openings.

“They came back at us, scored the second goal, and killed the game off really.

“We won’t let our heads drop too much from this result. It’s tough for the team because I think, obviously, back to back 3-0s are a bit harsh on us.

“I thought at times we controlled the game at Chelsea. We had a bit of joy in midfield. But it will be the teams around us where we will be judged this season,” Cleverley added.