Tim Sherwood ready to ‘die on my sword’ for Aston Villa

It has been suggested that David Moyes would not be averse to returning to the English game to manage Villa

Mark Hughes insists there is no problem between him and Swansea counterpart Garry Monk despite heated comments (PA)

Tim Sherwood was in defiant mood after Aston Villa’s seventh defeat in eight Premier League games. Explaining why he sent his relegation-threatened team out to attack Chelsea, he said: “A lot of teams come and sit back, try to absorb the pressure and nick something. We didn’t. We took it to them from the first minute.

“Should I be more pragmatic? Why? I’ve done it a few times but I don’t like myself for it. If we get beat, we get beat having a go. I’m trying to instil in them not to be scared to lose. If anyone should be scared to lose then it should be me. But I’m not. I want to go out on the front foot and if I die, I die on my sword.”

Sherwood then woke up to more headlines suggesting David Moyes would not be averse to returning to the English game to manage Villa. The former Everton and Manchester United manager distanced himself from reports linking him to Sunderland earlier this month, but Real Sociedad have had a difficult start in La Liga.

Sherwood added: “I can’t control what the owners do, I can only control what I can do and I remain confident in that. If you want to play for, or manage, a big club like Villa then you’ve got to take pressure. I won’t shirk away.”

Sherwood’s record at Villa is poor, but having just survived relegation last season, then lost the spine of the team in Christian Benteke, Fabian Delph and Ron Vlaar, that is no surprise. Nevertheless, so leaden are Chelsea at present (Mourinho omitting Eden Hazard because he feared Alan Hutton’s attacking runs spoke volumes), Villa looked the better side until a calamitous mistake by two of their 30-somethings, Brad Guzan and Joleon Lescott.

Their error gave Diego Costa, back after his three-match league suspension, the chance to score his first Premier League goal since August and the striker, to Mourinho’s satisfaction, immediately looked more like his rumbustious self. “When you lose him we’re a bit in trouble because the team depends on a striker like him, with a personality like him. So when we don’t, we miss him,” said Mourinho. “He has a lot of tactical quality the team needs, the character, the movement. He is an influence, a leader in the way he plays, the way he gives his body to the cause.”

Costa’s propensity to get into scraps was highlighted again on Match of the Day but Mourinho argued his player was more sinned against than sinner.

“I’m pleased he didn’t react, but I would be even happier if the people who find his hypothetical or real negative moments were honest the other way. At this moment he is the bad guy, there is the big desire for people to find the negative things on him.”