Aston Villa host Swansea on Saturday in a match where both teams have huge reasons to fight for the three points.
Villa are in the poorest form of all Premier League sides, winning the opening match of the season at Bournemouth but since then drawing only once and losing seven times, including a run of five straight defeats. The Birmingham-based side is yet to play against Tottenham, Manchester City or even Everton, where they will doubtlessly be outsiders.
On the other hand, Swansea had a marauding run in the opening four matches, though they are unrecognizable from that team at the moment. Garry Monk’s side have recorded only two points in the last five matches, losing to Watford, Southampton and Stoke City. The most recent loss to the Potters showed their lack of diversity during the game, making the job alot easier for the visitors.
Aston Villa lies in the relegation zone, with only Sunderland behind them and Bournemouth and Norwich in front, four and five points ahead respectively. The Swans were in the Champions League spot ahead of September’s international break, but with the drop in form, they slide on the Premier League table as well. The Welsh outfit is in 14th position, only four points ahead of Newcastle.
So, bearing in mind all of the catastrophic stats of the two teams, why is this Saturday clash crucial for the two teams?
A horrific schedule
Both are in need of the three points this weekend. Villa has to put up a fight at home against a side that has been seriously struggling and losing to Swans would mean even bigger problems than the ones they have now. The Tyne-Wear derby could mean Villa are at the rock-bottom behind Sunderland, or five points behind Newcastle. On the other hand, Swansea’s third away defeat would find them far behind the mid-table teams, which was their aim before the season started.
Aston Villa will be in pain to earn points after Swansea, as they will play Spurs, Manchester City and Everton. After the possible win against Watford, they will have to fight at Southampton and against Arsenal, which could dent confidence again. Swansea, on the other hand, will play Arsenal and Liverpool in the next four games, with the rampant Leicester and Manchester City following in early December.
There is still plenty of time for teams to recover from poor outings, though the goals they want to achieve are going to flee away with each game passing.
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Swansea’s possible panic
After a late-August victory over Manchester United, Swansea found themselves at fourth place and dreaming about, at the least, Europa League qualification. Yet, the goal of reaching England’s top seven faded away easily, as the squad was increasingly in trouble for goals. Monk’s players managed to find the net from the open play only once since beating Red Devils – Andre Ayew’s header against Spurs – remaining unable to score in two out of three home matches.
Monk keeps changing things around in his starting XI, trying to find Swansea’s good performances from August. The Jacks’ manager already left out Gylfi Sigurdsson against Stoke and if the team continues poor outings, something more radical could be tried. Panic in the dressing room could be close and if Villa manages to end their horrible form on Saturday, we could see Swansea officially entering the relegation battle.
The pressure will rise against Monk, as the manager has the better squad than during sprin when they finished 8th in the league. Signing Ayew and retaining key players at the club was supposed to give them at least the same results as last year. After nine games into the season, the Welshmen seem far away from the top-half finish and if the team continues to disappoint, Monk could pay the price in the next four weeks.
Sherwood’s dismissal
Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood is encountering more pressure with each day he remains at the club. He was able to help the club late into the last term, but as he started his first full season in management, the Villans look terrible.
Sherwood’s team concedes 13 shots per match, while shooting at the target themselves on average only three times. This horrendous statistics show Villa’s inability to get into a chance and incapacity in keeping their net intact, with only a single clean sheet this season at Bournemouth. Sherwood will be the only culprit for the poor results, as he had enough time during summer to rebuild the squad after Fabian Delph and Christian Benteke left to Manchester City and Liverpool, respectively. The argument that his two best players departed will not be good enough for the owners, as survival in the Premier League is ‘a must’. The clubs will be getting biggest prize money in the history of football starting next season and Aston Villa has a real urge to remain in the top-flight.
If the team keeps performing miserably, there will be no hesitatation in finding a new manager who will be able to get the most out of an average squad.
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