Hope is not something in abundance at Villa Park right now, with most fans resigning themselves to the fact that the claret and blue are going to be relegated this season.
Rémi Garde’s men sit bottom of the Premier League with only six points after 15 games, and an average of 0.8 points per match.
The only real hope fans have now is whether the Villans can emulate the success of Leicester City’s last season heroics. At Christmas the Foxes looked down and out, but they under Nigel Pearson they managed to turn it around and fire themselves up the table to finish 14th with 41 points.
It is hard to compare last season’s Leicester with this season’s Villa though. Pearson’s men had double the points at this stage of the season than they have now, sitting bottom with 10 to their names. The East Midlands outfit had not lost by more than two goals since the beginning of 2014-15, while Remi Garde’s men suffered a 4-0 defeat away to Everton two weeks ago. Leicester unsurprisingly had more wins, beating Stoke City 1-0 away and embarrassing Manchester United at home in a 5-3 thriller. The Villans can only claim a 1-0 win away to a poor Bournemouth side at the start of the season.
Excluding the triumph against Manchester United, the Foxes wins were split into two categories. Firstly, those coming against teams in a relegation battle, 1-0 away to Burnley and 5-1 at home to Queens Park Rangers, for example. The others came at home beating the likes of Swansea City and Southampton.
Villa’s results against relegation rivals have been less encouraging, the opening win against Bournemouth might not be counted as a relegation battle clash, as Villa fans were somehow deluded into thinking they could avoid a struggle with the drop this season. Nevertheless, they failed to beat Sunderland at home, drawing 2-2, while defeats at home to West Bromwich Albion and Watford followed. An October to Chelsea sums up just how bad Villa’s form has been against teams in the lower regions of the table at home.
The worrying thing is that these defeats to fellow relegation battlers have all been at home, excluding Chelsea and Bournemouth. This means Villa still have to go to the Baggies, Sunderland and Watford to gain vital points later down the line.
14 – Aston Villa have gone 14 games without a win, the longest run in their whole league history (1888-present). Doldrums.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 7, 2015
It looks more likely that the Villans will emulate Derby County’s 2007-08 season, when the Rams infamously broke Sunderland’s lowest points tally record by picking up a measly 11 for the campaign. But even Derby had more points at this stage of the season than Villa. Incidentally, a Martin O’Neill-managed side handed Derby their worst home defeat that season in a 6-0 drubbing, with Stan Petrov scoring from the halfway line.
Can Villa perform the greatest escape? The Brummie club have two games to reach or improve on Leicester’s ten points at Christmas. But the fixture list looks drab, a home tie against Arsenal and a visit to St James’ Park to face Newcastle. Results against those sides have not been great in recent seasons and it is hard to see Villa getting one more point, let alone the four required to match Leicester’s 2014 Christmas tally.
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The recent showing against Southampton would have provided some hope, although the Saints were coming-off an embarrassing 6-1 defeat to Liverpool in the League Cup days prior. Ronald Koeman’s men still looked at Villa with glee though, but were frustrated as Villa managed to scrape a point from St. Mary’s.
If Garde can get his side to consistently produce the defensive performances that kept Manchester City out, Villa might have a chance. But it is getting near that time when only miracles will keep the claret and blue alive in the top-flight come next season.
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