John McGinn: This can still be a special season for Aston Villa

Villa face a huge week with home matches against Brentford tomorrow and Southampton on Saturday as they look to snap an eight-game winless run in all competitions.

Unai Emery’s team have now won since beating Fulham on October 19, with Sunday’s 3-0 defeat at Chelsea leaving them in the bottom half of the Premier League table.

McGinn said: “We are in a tough moment as a group so it is important for us to stick together, don't let what we have built break, take responsibility, take the criticism that will probably come our way and look to Wednesday."

"We have still got an opportunity to do something really special this season. We have a game on Wednesday and then on Saturday, so we have to turn it around quickly."

The captain, meanwhile, dismissed the suggestion Villa’s exertions in the Champions League might be contributing to their struggles.

Villa have failed to win any of their last four league matches which followed European games but McGinn said: "I'm not sure it can be an excuse because we had a more difficult turnaround last season.

"The Conference League games - Thursday to Sunday - are much more difficult to recover from. It is an easy excuse, but not one we want to use.

"We know we are good enough to compete and get results like this. We need to get back to the levels we have reached over the last few seasons."