Villa’s loss to Everton a reflection of the arduous task at hand for Remi Garde
After securing a solid scoreless draw against champions-elect Manchester City last time out, Remi Garde would have been hoping to kick-start his Aston Villa reign with a win against Everton. What he got instead is a reflection of how difficult the task will be to even stay up next season. After 13 games, Villa’s stats read: P 13, W 1, D 2, L 10, GF 10, GA 24. They have the league’s worst goal differential and scoring record and have the joint fourth-worst defence. What is even more startling and what must be of concern for the hierarchy at the club is that Villa already find themselves five points below safety. Everton’s young trio of Deulofeu, Lukaku and Barkley profited against a team lacking in invention and incisiveness and catastrophic at the back. With a third of the season complete, a road to recovery must begin soon. For Garde it will not be easy.
Leicester looking down at the chasing pack
If you told a Leicester City fan that their team would have been in first place nearing the end of November they would have probably looked at you and asked if you were crazy. With their 3-0 win over Newcastle and the slip-ups of Manchester City and Arsenal, the Foxes reached the summit in the Premier League for the first time in this century. The form of Jamie Vardy continued in spectacular fashion, netting and equaling Ruud van Nistlerooy’s record of scoring in 10 consecutive games. He will have the chance to better that against van Nistlerooy’s former employers Manchester United next week. The team’s cohesion and resilience is not to be underestimated and it is a match for anyone. After being written off by critics who suggested that they would be relegated, Claudio Ranieri has made them eat their words. The challenge for Ranieri is to try and prevent the inevitable slide down the table which has happened so frequently to the likes of Southampton and West Ham in the past.
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