Dean Smith is slowly but surely getting the best out of the current set of Aston Villa players and is quickly making a surge up the Championship table for a possible playoff spot.

But if the Villans were to find themselves in that position come the end of the calendar year, then they would need to raise their reported interest in Chelsea's Gary Cahill.

The best time to capitalise on the defender appears to be now after he was snubbed by Maurizio Sarri on Saturday, while the manager's team and tactics were dismantled at Wembley.

The Italian made an embarrassment of himself by not naming Cahill on the bench but on the pitch David Luiz was made to look like an amateur footballer by Tottenham Hotspur, who put three goals past the Chelsea defence.

Sarri's continued idea of fielding Luiz and Antonio Rudiger as the centre-back paring was finally torn apart by a lethal attack and he couldn't even put his trust in one of the club's most experience players to turn things around in the second-half.

Cahill has been linked with a possible move to various English clubs, but a loan move to Villa appears to be the best solution for the England international at the moment, while at the same time it would improve Smith's chances of taking his team all the way at the end of the season.

Cahill would slot in perfectly next to either James Chester or Axel Tuanzebe who have both been solid in recent matches. But, almost like John Terry last season, Cahill would add a great deal of leadership and experience to the back-four that will be needed if Villa plan on going one better this season and earn promotion to the Premier League.

A loan-move in January would be enough for Smith to utilise Cahill to the greatest extent and given the player's relationship with Terry, the assistant manager would know exactly how to fit him into system.