Sherwood excited by youthful Villa

Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood is excited at the prospect of seeing his youthful squad develop as the Premier League campaign progresses.

Sherwood watched on as his players made a positive start to 2015-16, Rudy Gestede coming off the bench to the net the only goal in Saturday’s 1-0 victory at top-flight newcomers Bournemouth.

Former Tottenham boss Sherwood steered the club away from relegation in the final months of last season, but is hopeful an inexperienced squad can improve their 17th-placed finish back in May.

“This is still a young side, and they’re young in age as well,” he said.

“You look at the group we have brought in and they are very young, they’re still developing and we hope we can develop them and have a good season in the Premier League.

“Then we’ve ticked two boxes, everyone is happy we’ve brought a side for the future and not just this year.

“It’s going to take a lot of gelling for them players, a lot of time.

“We’re at the training ground at nine o’clock in the morning and we leave at three o’clock, and I make no apologies for getting the boys in at that time because they need to gel as quickly as possible.”