Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard paid tribute to Dean Smith after Norwich City was relegated yesterday.

Villa's 2-0 win confirmed Norwich's relegation on former Villa manager Smith's return to the club.

Like he would after every game as the Villa manager, Smith shook hands with each and every player from both teams at full-time. But this time around, he gave big hugs to the Villa players - a nice touch from the gaffer who bought or brought through many of Gerrard's team, including Jacob Ramsey, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings and Watkins.

"I'm disappointed for Norwich and Dean," Gerrard said. "He's someone who I think they've employed for the big picture. They were in a tough place when he got the job. It was always going to be a massive mountain to climb to keep them up, I've got no doubts they will be one of the favourites to bounce back next year.

"They've got a good coach and they fought from start to finish today. I'm sure he'll be pleased with the application from them and we wish them well moving forward. Once the whistle went we needed to make sure we focused on us. That was the last message to the team that these points meant more to us."