Aston Villa are unbeaten in each of the 14 Premier League appearances Tyrone Mings has made this season
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10:55, 14 May 2025
Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings
Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings(Image: Getty Images)
Tyrone Mings admits he has been pleasantly surprised by his own performances this season, having returned from a serious knee injury at the end of October.
He sustained an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury to his right knee in August 2023 during Villa's fixture away to Newcastle United on the opening weekend of last season.
It took 384 days for Mings to return to full training at Bodymoor Heath before he featured for the first time this campaign against Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup.
Villa lost that match, but with Mings in the team in the Premier League, they are unbeaten in all 14 games.
“At the start of the season I was obviously injured, so sitting here now being fit and contributing to the team on the pitch, is a successful season for me,” Mings told Sky Sports.
“There was a lot of uncertainty about how I would come back, if I would come back, when I would come back.
“I feel pleasantly surprised by my performances this year and we have two big games to go.”
He added: "I always said that if I am playing, playing well, and had no issues with my knee by the end of the season, then I'd consider that a successful season."
“Naturally, the team has their own goals as well. Absolutely we want to finish as high as possible. It will be very difficult, but personally I will look back at the season as a job well done from where I started it.”
Mings started against Bournemouth last time out and helped Villa to a crucial 1-0 victory at the Vitality Stadium.
The win boosted Villa’s hopes of returning to the Champions League ahead of the final two matches of the campaign against Tottenham and Manchester United.
“We are such a small part of their history in terms of their success, and some of the lows, which the club has had in its long history,” Mings continued.
“John McGinn, Jacob Ramsey and I have been here while the team has been in the Championship. We have rode the highs and lows ever since and everybody’s journey looks different.
“John, mine and Ramsey’s journeys all look different in those six years but I think we can take great pride in how we have contributed and how the club has scaled to such heights and we are still contributing."
Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings
Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings(Image: UEFA via Getty Images)
Despite reaching the last eight of the Champions League this season, it feels like Villa have unfinished business in the competition after having Paris Saint-Germain on the ropes in the second leg at Villa Park, which Unai Emery’s side won 3-2, but lost 3-1 in the first meeting in France.
“Naturally, along the way there will be disappointments and times when you go out of competitions,” Mings said. “There is an expectation at this club to be successful and win trophies.
“I think that we should never get away from that. There will be a feeling of positivity when the season finishes, and where we end up in the league, but also a tinge of what if.
“Qualifying for Europe every year shouldn’t be overlooked as it is a huge achievement, but at the same time we want to win trophies and really create history with the club.
“After 38 games in the season, you usually end up where you deserve to end up and that is the most deserving way of qualifying for Europe.
“There is no getting away from finishing in the top four, top five, that you absolutely deserve that because of the consistency you have to show over the course of the season.
“If you add in the manager’s cup record and the competitions he has won, he has a level of experience which we can tap into.
“But in terms of the standards and bar being set, I think it is important to be able to handle that. Even when I came back from injury, the club wasn’t even in the same place as when I got injured.
“We just qualified for the Conference League and at the start of the season if you offered them the chance to qualify for the Conference League again, they’d probably have said that they wanted to be in the Europa League or the Champions League.
“As players, we have to enjoy that and thrive off.”
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